This is a juvenile case with a tangential connection to family law. The issue of the underlying case concerns DCF’s authority to vaccinate children in its care over the objections of the children’s parents. However, the issue on this appeal was whether DCF was permitted to bring in a new theory of the case once the case was on appeal before the Supreme Court. The Court had previously ruled in In re Elianah T.-T., 326 Conn. 614 (2017) that Conn. Gen. Stat. § 17a-10 (c) did not authorize the petitioner, the Commissioner of Children and Families … to vaccinate a child placed in her temporary custody over the objection of that child’s parents …”
The Supreme Court granted the motion for reconsideration but denied the relief and would not allow a second bite, stating “[a]s this argument was not previously advanced to this court, we grant the motion for reconsideration, but deny the relief requested.” The Supreme Court went on state that “[a]lthough a motion for reconsideration may be appropriate when a party contends that the court did not address one or more of its arguments or that there has been some mistake in the opinion, it is not proper to use such a motion simply as a means for giving the losing party a second chance to try a new argument.”
