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DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW — NOT FINAL

Bittle v. Commissioner of Social Services, 48 Conn. App. 711 (1998)

Citation
Bittle v. Commissioner of Social Services, 48 Conn. App. 711 (1998)
Parent Document
Bittle v. Commissioner of Social Services, 48 Conn. App. 711 (1998)
Jurisdiction
Connecticut (state)
Effective Date
1998-05-19

Full Text

1,308 chars
Connecticut statutes must be read in accordance with the plain language that is set forth in them. Donner v. Kearse, 234 Conn. 660, 670, 662 A.2d 1269 (1995). Section 4-183 (c) provides, in general terms, that an administrative appeal must be filed with the court and served on the agency or the attorney general and on each party listed in the decision within forty-five days of delivery of the agency’s final decision to the appellant. Glastonbury Volunteer Ambulance Assn., Inc. v. Freedom of Information Commission, 227 Conn. 848, 852, 633 A.2d 305 (1993). Section 4-183 (c) further provides that the appealing party’s failure to make service on parties other than the agency that rendered the final decision shall not deprive the court of jurisdiction over the *715appeal. If the legislature intended to allow service on the subject agency to be completed upon receipt of the appeal documents after forty-five days, it would not have specifically excluded “parties other than the agency that rendered the final decision” from the forty-five day requirement. To hold that service was completed when the plaintiff deposited the appeal documents in the mail would result in a grace period to the appealing party that the legislature never intended. In fact, the legislature’s intent was quite the opposite.