AFFIDAVIT OF JEFFREY J. MIRMAN IN SUPPORT OF SECOND MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT October 14, 2022 (2024)

 
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 DOCKET NO. UWY-CV-20-6065666-S SUPERIOR COURT PETER RAHN AND JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF VALERIE T.H. RAHN WATERBURY V. WATERBURY COMPLEX LIT CYNTHIA WISNIEWSKI GONYEA, DANIEL C. GONYEA AND NAOMI HALTINER OCTOBER 13, 2022 AFFIDAVIT OF JEFFREY J. MIRMAN I, Jeffrey J. Mirman, having been duly sworn, depose and state as follows: 1. I am over eighteen (18) years of age and believe in the obligations of an oath. 2. I am a partner with the law firm of Hinckley, Allen & Snyder, LLP and am counsel for the Plaintiffs in connection with the above-captioned matter. 3. I submit this affidavit in connection with the Plaintiffs Peter Rahn and Peter Rahn as Administrator of the Estate of Valerie T.H. Rahn's Second Motion for Summary Judgment. 4. Attached hereto as Exhibit A is a true and accurate copy of the warranty deed dated September 10, 2004 from Susan Reynolds to Valerie Rahn. 5. Attached hereto as Exhibit B is a true and accurate copy of the title search performed for 590 Gulf Street by Attorney Stephen J. Skudlarek, Jr. as of June 29, 2020. 6. Attached hereto as Exhibit C is a true and accurate version of the Affidavit of Valerie Rahn, as filed with the Milford Town Clerk. 7. Attached hereto as Exhibit ❑ is a true and accurate copy of portions of the transcript of the deposition of William Perfetto taken November 11, 2020. 1 63072357 vl 8. Attached hereto as Exhibit E is a true and accurate copy of the Milford Assessor's record for 590 Gulf Street. 9. Attached hereto as Exhibit F is a true and accurate copy of the quitclaim deed dated February 14, 2020, that purports to transfer title Valerie Rahn to Naomi Haltiner 10. Attached hereto as Exhibit G is a true and accurate copy of the Affidavit of David Lutzer dated September 9, 2020. 1 1. Attached hereto as Exhibit H is a true and accurate copy of portions of the deposition of David Lutzer taken on December 10, 2020. 12. Attached hereto as Exhibit i is a true and accurate copy of portions of the deposition of Peter Stark taken on January 19, 2021. 13. Attached hereto as Exhibit J is the Form OP-236 Real Estate Tax Return form for the purported conveyance from Valerie Rahn to Naomi Haltiner. 14. Attached hereto as Exhibit K is a true and accurate copy of portions of the deposition of James Smith taken June 5, 2021. 15. Attached hereto as Exhibit L is a true and accurate copy of portions of the deposition of Leonard Wisniewski taken June 4, 2021. 16. Attached hereto as Exhibit M is a true and accurate copy of the Residential Real Estate Sales Contract between Naomi Haltiner and Cynthia and Daniel Gonyea, dated July 14, 2020. 17. Attached hereto as Exhibit N is a true and accurate copy of the Residential Seller's Closing Statement for 590 Gulf Street dated July 31, 2020. 18. Attached hereto as Exhibit C is a true and accurate copy of an email exchange dated August 8 and 9, 2020 between Bill Perfetto and Peter Rahn. 2 63072357 vl 19. Attached hereto as Exhibit P is a true and accurate copy of an email exchange dated August 20-22, 2020 between Attorneys Peter Stark and James Smith which was Exhibit 4 to the June 5, 2021 deposition of James Smith. 20. Attached hereto as Exhibit Q is a true and accurate copy of an email exchange between Attorney Peter Stark and the Milford Police Department, dated August 31-September 1, 2020. 21. Attached hereto as Exhibit R is a true and accurate copy of an email dated September 2, 2020 from Cynthia Gonyea to Sergeant Doerr at the Milford Police Department. 22. Attached hereto as Exhibit S is a true and accurate copy of portions of the transcript of the deposition of Cynthia Wisniewski Gonyea taken on May 10, 2021. 23. Attached hereto as Exhibit T is a true and accurate copy of the warranty deed recorded at Book 3885 pages 134-136 of the Milford Land Records purporting to transfer the Property from Naomi Haltiner to Cynthia Wisniewski Gonyea and Daniel Gonyea. 24. Attached hereto as Exhibit U is a true and accurate copy of portions of the transcript of the deposition of Peter Rahn taken on September 15, 2022. 25. Attached hereto as Exhibit V is a true and accurate copy of the expert report of the Plaintiffs' Expert Marc Seifer, PhD. 26. Attached hereto as Exhibit W is a true and accurate copy of portions of the transcript of the deposition of Plaintiffs' expert Marc Seifer taken on August 25, 2022. 27. Attached hereto as Exhibit X is a true and accurate copy of the Notice of Lis Pendens that was filed on the Milford land records on August 19, 2020. 3 63072357 vl 28. Attached hereto as Exhibit Y is a true and accurate copy of portions of the transcript of the Gonyea Defendants' expert Elton Harvey taken on October 6, 2022. Further affiant sayeth not. Merman STATE OF CONNECTICUT ) ) ss: Hartford COUNTY OF HARTFORD Then and there personally appeared Jeffrey J. Mirman who subscribed the foregoing Affidavit and who swore to the truth of the statements contained therein before me, the undersigned authority on this 13th day of October, 2022. KATHLEEN ALBINO Notary Public Connecticut My Commission Expires Oct 31, 2023 4 63072357 vl EXHIBIT A 1 EXHIBIT B GONYEA0171 GONYEA0172 GONYEA0173 GONYEA0174 GONYEA0175 GONYEA0176 GONYEA0177 GONYEA0178 GONYEA0179 GONYEA0180 GONYEA0181 GONYEA0182 GONYEA0183 GONYEA0184 GONYEA0185 GONYEA0186 GONYEA0187 GONYEA0188 GONYEA0189 GONYEA0190 GONYEA0191 GONYEA0192 GONYEA0193 GONYEA0194 GONYEA0195 EXHIBIT C EXHIBIT D 1 SUPERIOR COURT JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF ANSONIA/MILFORD AT MILFORD X PETER RAHN and VALERIE T.H. RAHN, Plaintiffs, -against- Docket No.: AAN-CV20-6039803-S CYNTHIA WISNIEWSKI GONYEA, DANIEL C. GONYEA and NAOMI HALTINER, Defendants. X November 11, 2020 10:23 a.m. EST VIRTUAL DEPOSITION of WILLIAM PERFETTO, a Non-Party Witness herein, taken pursuant to Subpoena, and held remotely via videoconference, before Ilana M. Nathanson, a Court Reporter and Notary Public of the State of New York. 800.0AL.8779 dalcoreporting.com DALCO WILLIAM PERFETTO 9 1 that was before or after 2010 -- 2 A I don't remember when that LLC was 3 started. I would say I don't remember when that was 4 started. 5 Q Okay. How about since 2015? 6 MR. YOUNG: Objection to form; asked and 7 answered. He doesn't remember. 8 Q Has it been in existence for the last 9 three years, Topsail? 10 A Yes. 11 Q When's the first time that either 12 Perfetto Construction or Topsail performed any work 13 at 590 Gulf? 14 A We -- I was introduced to 590 Gulf in 15 2013, I think was the first time. I did work for 16 Valerie's brother, and that's who introduced me to 17 the property when he was still alive. 18 Q Okay. So just to -- and we can I'm 19 fine with using first names, but that's Valerie 20 Rahn, R-A-H-N? 21 A Yes. 22 Q And you were introduced to her brother? 23 A The first person I was introduced to was 24 Curt Hansen, which was her brother, to do -- there 800.0/AL.8779 dalcoreporting.com DALCO WILLIAM PERFETTO 41 1 (Exhibit 4, SCREENSHOT, was marked for 2 identification.) 3 4 Q Okay. In this, at the very top, from 5 Peter Rahn, it says, "How much is it to get the 6 alarm system up?" Do you see that? 7 A Yes. 8 Q Did you ever have an alarm system 9 installed? 10 A No. We quoted it. I think -- again, this 11 is all from reading emails the other night. I think 12 you'll see a quote in there at some point. We never 13 ended up doing that. 14 Q If you can turn to -- when you performed 15 property management services, I know you said it 16 mainly was outside and landscaping and the like. 17 Did you ever -- and paying of utility bills. Did 18 you ever go inside the house on a routine basis, say 19 once a month or otherwise? 20 A Well, that was -- you asked me prior -- 21 2014. And as the years got -- yeah. As the years 22 have gone on, like just as of last year or this 23 year, we did routine maintenance on the inside of 24 the house as far as cleaning. And because there was 800.DAL.8779 dalcoreporting.com DALCO WILLIAM PERFETTO 42 1 an issue with mold in this house a while back, we 2 had a major remediation on the whole house, so then 3 we started keeping all the systems up and running 4 and actually having people in there every two weeks. 5 But as of this time, all we did mainly was the 6 exterior of the house. Did we go inside? I've been 7 inside that house before, at this time as well, but 8 there was no work that was being done there. 9 Q So from 2014 to, let's say, you know, 10 early 2020, you were performing more routine 11 cleaning services as well, and your invoices reflect 12 that? 13 A Yeah. I don't recall if it was 2014 or 14 not, but yes, my invoices will reflect what we 15 physically did inside the house, correct. 16 MR. WALKO: If you can turn to pages 16 17 and 17. It's a two-page document that I'll 18 refer to as Exhibit 5. 19 20 (Exhibit 5, EMAIL, TWO PAGES, was marked for 21 identification.) 22 23 MR. MIRMAN: I'm sorry. What's the pages? 24 MR. WALKO: 16 and 17. Jeff, let me know 800.DAL.8779 dalcoreporting.com DALCO WILLIAM PERFETTO 53 1 Q Did he ever indicate to you that this was 2 Stella Larbi's daughter? 3 A Not that I recall. 4 Q Well, when you found out that Naomi 5 Haltiner was the owner on record and then wrote to 6 Mr. Rahn, at that time, did you recall that there 7 was a Naomi involved in this property back in 2014? 8 MR. MIRMAN: Objection to the form. 9 MR. YOUNG: It's an objection to form. 10 You can answer. 11 A I'm sorry. I didn't know if I'm supposed 12 to answer. So you're asking me if I -- so I knew 13 there was a Naomi involved. I'm sorry. I'm not 14 completely understanding what you're asking me. 15 Q Okay. I'll rephrase it. That's fine. 16 Let's go back to your words to Mr. Rahn, top of 17 page 21. You write to him. That says that the 18 neighbor says that his sister purchased the house 19 and closed last week from a woman named Naomi. 20 Let's just stop there. When you wrote that to 21 Mr. Rahn in August 8th of 2020, did you -- did you 22 have any idea as to whether that Naomi was the same 23 Naomi that you referred to earlier in your 24 testimony? 800.0/AL.8779 dalcoreporting.com DALCO WILLIAM PERFETTO 54 1 A I'll tell you that I would assume that it 2 was the same one, because I didn't know until 3 recently that there could be a Naomi that was a 4 tutor. And again, I just realized that reading 5 through these emails two days ago. Yes. In my 6 recollection, that Naomi was always the Naomi that I 7 described earlier that -- always thought that it was 8 Stella's daughter. 9 Q Okay. 10 A What made me second guess that was the 11 couple of days ago when I was reading through these, 12 and I said there's a tutor, which I don't remember 13 that email in 2013 that came through. So -- 14 Q So when you wrote this email to Mr. Rahn 15 in August on August 8th, your assumption was the 16 Naomi that you were writing about was the same 17 Naomi that you met in 2014? 18 A Yes. 19 Q If you turn to -- well, strike that. 20 Staying with your conversations with 21 Mr. Rahn. Did Mr. Rahn say anything else? Did he 22 bring up the fact that Stella had a daughter named 23 Naomi and that the Naomi who was the record owner 24 could be the same Naomi? 800.0AL..8779 dalcoreporting.com DALCO WILLIAM PERFETTO 55 1 A No. 2 Q Did he ever ask you who Naomi Haltiner 3 was? 4 A Not that I recall. 5 Q So you had a telephone conversation with 6 Mr. Rahn about the fact that it appeared someone 7 else was the record owner of the property, and he 8 didn't ask you any questions about if you knew who 9 the owner was? 10 A I'm sure -- I'm sure something came up to 11 that -- to that nature. I don't recall exactly how 12 it came out, and I'm not comfortable saying that 13 this is exactly what he said or what he didn't say. 14 I don't remember. 15 Q Well, then generally, what did he say? I 16 mean, it was only in August of 2020. 17 A He was very surprised. Right. So my 18 recollection of the conversation -- and again, I 19 tend to back it up in emails, which is why you'll 20 see that this says email -- is, Hey, Peter, did you 21 realize what was going on with this property? And 22 he had no idea. And then I Vision appraisaled the 23 house for him. I emailed him all this information 24 to show him who it was. I automatically, in my 800.DAL.8779 dalcoreporting.com DALCO WILLIAM PERFETTO 77 1 Q And how -- when you locked Naomi out of 2 the house, did you change the locks? 3 A Yes. 4 Q Did you ever speak to her about this? 5 A No. 6 Q When was the last time you saw her? 7 A I can't answer that question definitively. 8 The last time we had mention of her was through 9 Len's construction workers when they were building 10 his house. 11 Q And that was what year? 12 A I believe that was in the email as well. 13 Let me just circle back to that. Give me a second. 14 That was the -- that was the same time. It says, 15 Unfortunately, the house is a mess. The 16 construction crew working next door confirmed they 17 saw her as well as a man and a dog. So that was 18 somewhere around that April 29th, 2014. 19 Q And now if we could go back for a moment 20 to page 21. 21 A Okay. 22 Q So correct me if I'm wrong: It was on 23 August 8th of 2020 that you learned that there was 24 an issue regarding ownership of the property at Gulf 800.0fAl....8779 dalcoreporting.com DALCO WILLIAM PERFETTO 78 1 Street? A Yes. 3 Q All right. You learned that from 4 Brittany; is that right? 5 A Yes. So what we what we had done was 6 Gulf Beach, which is a beach right down from this 7 house, a private beach, and you have to have a pass 8 to go to it, so I used to let Brittany park in the 9 property, take a -- you know, a visual walkabout of 10 the property, make sure everything's good. She 11 would park her car, go down to the beach, and she 12 noticed that's when there was caution tape and cones 13 up saying no trespassing. I believe she reached out 14 to Len, and that's what brought us here. 15 Q When you say she reached out to Len, was 16 that because she saw Len on the property next door? 17 A You know what, I don't recall exactly how 18 that was, whether it was phone, text, or -- I don't 19 recall. I can clarify that. 20 Q Sure. Did Brittany take photos of the 21 property on that day? 22 A I think she did text me photos. I'd have 23 to look back. 24 Q Okay. And if you have those, could you 800.0/Al..8779 dalcoreporting.com DALCO WILLIAM PERFETTO 81 1 Q Okay. 2 A It happened so quick. In all fairness, 3 Brittany was there. She saw it. She texted me. I 4 immediately called Len and then immediately shot 5 Peter an email just to make him aware of what was 6 going on. 7 Q So your conversation with Len was by 8 telephone? 9 A Yes. 10 Q How did you know his number? 11 A We've communicated in the past just 12 regarding this property. Just hey, what's going on 13 with the property? You know, hey, the grass is 14 looking a little too long. Hey, the plow guys are 15 doing this. You know, just things to that nature. 16 Q So your prior communications with Len were 17 him calling you to discuss issues that he noticed 18 with the property? 19 A For the most part, yes. 20 Q Did he ever indicate that either he or his 21 sister might have an interest in purchasing the 22 property? 23 A I don't believe. He always questioned 24 what was going on with it. He never mentioned -- I 800.0AL.8779 dalcoreporting.com DALCO WILLIAM PERFETTO 82 1 never even knew he had a sister. To be honest with 2 you, to this day, I wouldn't even know what Len 3 looked like. You know, he probably alluded to, hey, 4 what's going on? I would love to see that thing 5 gone or, you know, something along those natures, 6 but nothing significantly -- hey, I want to buy the 7 property. Can you give me any information on it? 8 Q Did he ever ask whether it was for sale? 9 A No. 10 Q So in connection -- so with respect to 11 your conversation with Len either on or shortly 12 after August 8th, what was it that he specifically 13 said to you? 14 A Specifically, I can give you -- you know, 15 from my recollection, it was, hey, my sister 16 purchased this house. She has plans to knock it 17 down. Hey, I forgot you're a builder. Maybe you'd 18 be interested in giving her a quote on rebuilding 19 it. That's the bottom line. 20 Q And did you express surprise to him that 21 she had purchased it? 22 A Yes. 23 Q Did you ask Len who the seller was? 24 A No. 800.0AL.8779 dalcoreporting.com DALCO 93 1 C ERTIFICATION 2 STATE OF NEW YORK 3 ss: 4 COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER 5 I, ILANA M. NATHANSON, Court Reporter 6 and Notary Public within and for the County of 7 Westchester, State of New York, do hereby certify: 8 That I reported the proceedings that 9 are hereinbefore set forth, and that such transcript 10 is a true and accurate record of said proceedings. 11 AND, I further certify that I am not 12 related to any of the parties to this action by 13 blood or marriage, and that I am in no way 14 interested in the outcome of this matter. 15 16 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto 17 set my hand. 18 19 20 #0/A-a---fithithlivtont, 21 ILANA M. NATHANSON 22 Court Reporter 23 24 800.0AL.8779 dalcoreporting.com DALCO EXHIBIT E 7 590 GULF GULF ST 590 GULF ST Locailon 590 Location Location 590GULFST 590 GULF ST GULF ST lflblu 281520/221i Mblu 2W1frl22tt 28/520/ 22/ AEGtf 008788 Acct# Acct# 008788 Clwner HALTINER Owner Owner IIALTINER 

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