The matter was referred to a state referee, who, exercising the powers of the Superior Court, awarded the plaintiff a divorce, denied the motion for alimony and counsel fees, and ordered a reconveyance to the plaintiff of a one-half interest in property located in Newington. From the judgment rendered the defendant has appealed, assigning error in virtually every ruling and determination made by the court. Only those claims which are briefed will be considered. Fleischer v. Kregelstein, 150 Conn. 158, 159, 187 A.2d 241; West Realty Co. v. Ennis, 147 Conn. 602, 603, 164 A.2d 409. The first claimed error concerns the denial of alimony pendente lite and counsel fees.
The claims of error not briefed are considered to have been abandoned. West Realty Co. v. Ennis, 147 Conn. 602, 603, 164 A.2d 409. The claims of error which were briefed will be discussed later. The unchallenged findings of fact recite that the plaintiff obtained a building permit on July 19, 1959, from the town engineer for the erection of a school building.
The claims presented therein were not pursued in the brief. They are therefore treated as abandoned. Donch v. Kardos, 149 Conn. 196, 199, 177 A.2d 801; West Realty Co. v. Ennis, 147 Conn. 602, 603, 164 A.2d 409.
The plaintiff has appealed from the decision granting the motion to set aside the verdict. Since the plaintiff briefed only her assignments of error relating to the charge, all others are treated as abandoned. West Realty Co. v. Ennis, 147 Conn. 602, 603, 164 A.2d 409; State v. Harris, 147 Conn. 589, 591, 164 A.2d 399, and cases cited. One of the assignments of error which we regard as abandoned attacks a finding that the defendant had offered evidence to prove and claimed to have proved that at some unspecified date between the date of the accident and more than a year later the plaintiff's dog was killed and that the death of the dog had important adverse effects on the plaintiff's preexisting colitis although the extent of these effects was not shown. The defendant, relying on the failure of the plaintiff to make any reference in her brief to this assignment of error, properly considered it as abandoned and so stated in his brief.
They are considered to have been abandoned. West Realty Co. v. Ennis, 147 Conn. 602, 603, 164 A.2d 409; State v. Harris, 147 Conn. 589, 591, 164 A.2d 399. The other assignments of error have received such superficial treatment in the defendant's brief that they could readily be considered as being not seriously pressed. To so regard them would, however, be unfair to the defendant.
The defendant has assigned error in several respects. The claims of error in the finding and in the charge to the jury have not been pursued in the brief, and they are therefore considered as abandoned. West Realty Co. v. Ennis, 147 Conn. 602, 603, 164 A.2d 409. The defendant gains nothing from the claim that the verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence. State v. Lougiotis, 130 Conn. 372, 375, 34 A.2d 777; King v. Travelers Ins. Co., 123 Conn. 1, 3, 192 A. 311. The claim that the court erred in denying the defendant's motion to dismiss the second count of the information will not be considered, since the denial of such a motion is not properly assignable as error. Maltbie, Conn. App. Proc. 212. The remaining claims of error relate to the admission of evidence.
The trial court concluded that the plaintiff had paid the purchase price of the property to which title was taken in the name of his wife, that under these circumstances the law presumed a gift, that the burden of rebutting this presumption rested on the plaintiff, that he had failed to sustain this burden, that the plaintiff was not the owner of the property, and that judgment should be rendered for the defendants. The plaintiff, by assignments of error, has attacked the last three of these conclusions. Other assignments of error, relating to the finding of certain facts and to rulings on evidence, have not been pursued in the plaintiff's brief or in argument and will, therefore, be considered as abandoned. West Realty Co. v. Ennis, 147 Conn. 602, 603, 164 A.2d 409. The sole question involved in the appeal, then, is whether the court erred in ruling that the plaintiff's evidence was insufficient to rebut the presumption of a gift of the property to his wife. When the purchase money for property is paid by one and the legal title is taken in the name of another, a resulting trust ordinarily arises at once, by operation of law, in favor of the one paying the money.
In Perepletchikoff v. City of Los Angeles, 345 P.2d 261, the condition was that where there was a nonconforming use the owner had a choice of allowing demolition under police power or so repairing the building that it conformed to the zoning laws. In West Realty Co. v. Ennis, 164 A.2d 409, property constituting a fire hazard, where cost of repair would exceed 50 percent of replacement cost might be condemned, i.e., the owner would receive proper compensation. In Albert v. City of Mountain Home, 337 P.2d 377, destruction of a fire hazard on the ground of nuisance would be illegal unless consideration was first given to the possibility of eliminating the hazard by means other than destruction.
We have reviewed the briefs and record on appeal and on the basis thereof we are of the opinion that no reversible error has been made to clearly appear. City of Miami v. Thaw, Fla.App. 1961, 135 So.2d 902; Citizens Ins. Co. v. Barnes, 1929, 98 Fla. 933, 124 So. 722; Winters v. Sawyer, 1971, 225 Tenn. 113, 463 S.W.2d 705; West Realty Company v. Ennis, 1960, 147 Conn. 602, 164 A.2d 409; City of Aurora v. Meyer, 1967, 38 Ill.2d 131, 230 N.E.2d 200; McQuillin on Municipal Corporations, vol. 7, §§ 24.561-2, pp. 591-603. Affirmed.
The statute last cited would appear to answer plaintiff's contention that chapter 5, § 5-2 (18) of the New Canaan town code allows "all persons aggrieved by a rule, order or decision of the Building Committee or its agent any legal or equitable redress or remedy in a court of competent jurisdiction," for it is quite clear that towns cannot adopt rules of legal procedure contrary to the provisions of the General Statutes. Farnsworth v. Windsor, 150 Conn. 484 (1963); Bartlett v. Rockville, 150 Conn. 428 (1963). The case of West Realty Co. v. Ennis, 147 Conn. 602, cited by plaintiff, involved the same procedural steps followed by plaintiff here, and our Supreme Court did affirm the judgment of the Superior Court denying the injunctive relief sought against the building inspector of Hartford without questioning the procedure followed. However, the jurisdictional question was not raised either in the Superior Court or the Supreme Court and, accordingly, was not considered.