## Facts

- Max Hoberman brought a mortgage foreclosure action against Lake of Isles, Inc. and Girden.
- Defendants denied executing the mortgage and denied that the secured loan was made.
- After trial, judgment entered for defendants.
- Hoberman moved for a new trial under the applicable rule.
- The trial court found that material testimony at trial concerning execution of the mortgage by Girden was false.
- To prevent injustice, the trial court opened the judgment and granted a new trial.
- Defendants appealed from the order granting a new trial.

## Issues

1. Whether an order granting a motion for a new trial in a civil case is a “final judgment” appealable under the governing appeals statute.
2. Whether such an order falls within the statute’s separate category allowing appeals from decisions granting a motion to set aside a verdict.

## Decision

- The court dismissed the appeal for lack of appellate jurisdiction.
- The order granting a new trial was not a decision setting aside a verdict within the statute.
- The order was not a final judgment because it was interlocutory and did not finally conclude any litigated rights.

## Legal Principles

- Appellate jurisdiction is limited by statute to appeals from final judgments and specified interlocutory decisions; orders outside those categories are not appealable.
- A court must examine its own appellate jurisdiction and may dismiss an unauthorized appeal on its own motion.
- A judgment is “final” for appeal purposes when it conclusively determines the rights of one or more parties such that further proceedings cannot affect those rights.
- An order granting a new trial is interlocutory because it reopens the case for further proceedings on the merits and does not conclusively determine the parties’ rights.

## Conclusion

Because granting a new trial merely restores the case to the trial docket and leaves the merits unresolved, the order was interlocutory and not appealable as a final judgment; the appeal was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.


Hoberman v. Lake of Isles, Inc., 138 Conn. 573, 87 A.2d 137 (Conn. 1952)