PATRICIA BRECKENRIDGE, Judge. Introduction Timothy J. Finnegan, family court commissioner for the Circuit Court of St. Louis City, requested that the Commission on Retirement, Removal and Discipline (the commission) recommend to this Court that he be retired due to disability. After consideration of his request, the commission issued its findings of fact, conclusions of law, and recommendation that this Court retire Commissioner Finnegan for disability and award him retirement benefits as...
LAURA DENVIR STITH, Judge. The city of Lake Saint Louis appeals the trial court's dismissal of its petition for declaratory judgment that certain disputed property is within its boundaries and that the city of O'Fallon's attempted annexation of it is invalid. O'Fallon filed a motion to dismiss on the basis that Lake St. Louis had no authority to seek a declaratory judgment because the sole mechanism for determining whether its annexation of the disputed property was proper is to have the...
MARY R. RUSSELL, Judge. A contractor that was unpaid for its work filed suit against a property owner under the Private Prompt Payment Act (act), section 431.180. 1 Although the contractor's petition properly pleaded the elements of the act, there was no mention of its desire to seek attorney fees other than a specific request in the prayer. The parties dispute whether the contractor is entitled to the attorney fees that the trial court awarded. The judgment is affirmed because the...
PATRICIA BRECKENRIDGE, Judge. Edith Deck appeals a jury verdict entered in her favor and against Delmar Teasley in a negligence action arising out of an automobile collision. On appeal, Ms. Deck argues the trial court erred in limiting evidence of the value of the medical treatment she received to the amount actually paid for the treatment, rather than the amount she was billed. She argues her evidence, that the value of her medical treatment was the amount billed by her health care providers,...
RICHARD B. TEITELMAN, Judge. The issue in this case is whether House Bill (HB) 2224 passed by the 94th General Assembly violates article X, section 10(a) of the Missouri Constitution by imposing a tax on counties for a county purpose. The trial court entered a judgment holding that HB 2224 did not violate the state constitution. The judgment is affirmed. FACTS Plaintiffs filed a petition for declaratory judgment challenging the constitutional validity of HB 2224. 1 HB 2224 enacted section...
WILLIAM RAY PRICE, JR., Chief Justice. I. Introduction West Platte R-2 School District and two individual taxpayers in Platte County (collectively "plaintiffs") filed suit against the Platte County assessor, Lisa Pope, over her property tax assessment of two power plants owned by Kansas City Power & Light Co. ("KCPL"). KCPL intervened, and the assessor and KCPL filed motions to dismiss, arguing that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the valuation of another's property. The...
RICHARD B. TEITELMAN, Judge. Missouri Title Loans, Inc., appeals a judgment finding that a class arbitration waiver contained in its loan agreement is unconscionable and unenforceable. The judgment is affirmed in part and reversed in part. The case is remanded. FACTS Beverly Brewer borrowed $2,215 from Missouri Title Loans. She signed a loan agreement, promissory note and security agreement. The loan was secured by the title to Brewer's 2003 Buick Rendezvous. The annual percentage rate on...
ZEL M. FISCHER, Judge. Bobbie Jean and Vincent Proctor seek a writ to prohibit the Circuit Court of Jackson County (trial court) from enforcing its purported discovery order in the pending civil case of Bobbie Jean Proctor & Vincent Proctor v. Kansas City Heart Group, P.C., Timothy L. Blackburn, M.D., & St. Joseph Medical Center, Case No. 0816-CV24576. In the case below, the trial court issued a purported formal discovery order advising non-parties that the trial court believed it was...
RICHARD B. TEITELMAN, Judge. Lee's Summit Honda appeals a judgment denying its motion to compel Ashlee Ruhl to arbitrate her individual claims against it. Ruhl filed a class action suit against Honda, seeking damages for its unauthorized practice of law, section 484.020, 1 and its deceptive practices connected with the sale of merchandise under the Missouri merchandising practices act (MPA), sections 407.010 to 407.130. Honda claims that the trial court erred in failing to compel arbitration...
PATRICIA BRECKENRIDGE, Judge. A Missouri circuit court quashed registration of a foreign judgment Peoples Bank obtained in an Oklahoma district court against Missouri resident, H.L. Frazee. The Missouri court found that the Oklahoma court lacked personal jurisdiction over Mr. Frazee. Peoples Bank appeals. It challenges the circuit court's assignment of the burden of proof to Peoples Bank to establish that the Oklahoma court's jurisdiction was proper. Peoples Bank also challenges the Missouri...
WILLIAM RAY PRICE, JR., Chief Justice. I. Introduction Renaissance Leasing LLC, TEAM Excavating LLC, and John Uhlmann appeal the grant of summary judgment in favor of Vermeer Manufacturing Company and Vermeer Great Plains, Inc., on claims for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, breach of express and implied warranty, and breach of contract. All of the claims arise from the sale of a piece of heavy mining equipment—a T1055 terrain leveler—to a non-party, Crush Technology LLC. Crush purportedly...
MICHAEL A. WOLFF, Judge. Introduction Dwight Laughlin was convicted and sentenced to prison in 1993 by the Newton County circuit court for burglary and property damage crimes occurring in the United States post office in Neosho. Under the United States Constitution, if a state cedes jurisdiction over federal property in the state, the United States has exclusive jurisdiction to hear cases involving offenses committed on that federal property. When the United States acquired the land to...
RICHARD B. TEITELMAN, Judge. Lynn Kay and Shirley Ann McCullough (Plaintiffs) filed suit against Nadine Doss and Howard Allen (Defendants) to quiet title to a disputed parcel of land referred to as "Tract A." At trial, Plaintiffs claimed title to Tract A by deed and adverse possession, while Defendants asserted that Tract A was a public roadway. The trial court entered a judgment that quieted title in favor of Plaintiffs. The judgment is affirmed. FACTS In 1954 and 1955, the Missouri...
PER CURIAM. The dispositive issue in this case is the declaration that the straightforward and unambiguous language of 167.131, RSMo 2000, 1 applies as written. Plaintiffs are parents and children who reside in the City of St. Louis transitional school district 2 but attend schools in the Clayton school district pursuant to tuition agreements. After the transitional school district lost its state accreditation, the parents and children sued the Clayton school district, the board of...
MARY R. RUSSELL, Judge. At issue in this case is whether county commissioner Jay Purcell is entitled to a judgment declaring that he and his fellow commissioners violated the Sunshine Law during a closed meeting. This Court affirms the trial court's judgment in favor of the defendant Cape Girardeau County Commission, as the trial court correctly concluded that Purcell was not entitled to declaratory or injunctive relief. 1 I. Background Purcell was one of three commissioners on the Cape...
