Maria W. v. Eric W.

         Argued April 16, 2019

         Appeal from the Superior Court, Judicial District of Waterbury, Lloyd Cutsumpas, Judge Trial Referee.

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          Eric W., self-represented, the appellant (defendant).

         DiPentima, C.J., and Alvord and Norcott, Js.

          OPINION

          PER CURIAM.

         [191 Conn.App. 28] The self-represented defendant, Eric W., appeals from the judgment of dissolution and the court’s order related to the postjudgment motion for contempt filed by the plaintiff, Maria W.^[1] On appeal, the defendant has raised numerous claims,^[2] which we [191 Conn.App. 29] have distilled to his claims that

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the court (1) abused its discretion by admitting evidence at the dissolution trial of his arrest and (2) with respect to the plaintiff’s motion for contempt, improperly found him to be in arrears on his child support and alimony obligations and ordered him to make certain weekly payments to the plaintiff to cover his current and delinquent child support and alimony obligations. We affirm the judgment of dissolution and dismiss the appeal with respect to the motion for contempt for lack of a final judgment.

         The record reveals the following relevant facts and procedural history. The parties were married on March 17, 2000, and are the parents of one minor child. The plaintiff initiated the underlying dissolution proceeding in June, 2016. The trial lasted five days, commencing on May 11, 2017, and concluding on June 9, 2017. At trial, the plaintiff testified as to an April 5, 2016 incident in which the police arrested and charged the defendant.^[3] The charges were risk of injury to a child, assault in the third degree, resisting arrest, and disturbance of the peace. The defendant objected to this testimony on the ground that the charges had been dismissed. The court overruled the defendant’s objection.

          On June 26, 2017, the court dissolved the parties’ marriage. In its judgment of dissolution, the court found the plaintiff’s evidence "far more credible" than that of the defendant. The court found that the plaintiff acted as the primary caregiver to the child and that the defendant, despite having been afforded supervised parenting time with the child, had failed to visit the child in more [191 Conn.App. 30] than one year. The court granted the parties joint legal custody of the child and further ordered that the child’s "primary residence and physical custody will be with the [plaintiff] ...." Finding that the defendant’s pendente lite child support and alimony payments were in arrears in the amount of $1008 and $1200, respectively, the court ordered the defendant to make weekly payments of $16 toward the child support arrearage and $10 toward the alimony arrearage. It additionally ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiff weekly child support in the amount of $82 and weekly alimony in the amount of $25.

         On November 29, 2017, the plaintiff filed a motion for contempt, alleging that the defendant owed her $3857 for past due child support and alimony. Following a January 2, 2018 hearing on the matter, the court found that the defendant owed the ...