Opinion ID: 2274419
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Municipalities May Bring Declaratory Judgment Actions to Determine their Boundaries

Text: Lake St. Louis does not disagree with the general rule that quo warranto offers the exclusive means of relief for individuals; they may not sue in their own right and may act as relators only in an action brought in the name of the state by the attorney general or county prosecutor. But, Lake St. Louis argues, this Court never has held that the sound reasoning underlying this rule applies when the dispute is between two municipalities or other public corporations concerning which one of them has the valid claim over a disputed area. In such cases, it suggests, a public corporation is the party directly affected by the territorial dispute. While the attorney general and prosecutor also may bring a suit in quo warranto on behalf of such a governmental entity, whether they choose to do so is within those officials' discretion. The governmental entity, therefore, as the party directly affected, should have the right instead to bring a declaratory judgment action in its own name to vindicate its directly affected interest in the office or territory. This Court has recognized on at least two occasions that the question of whether a public school district can bring a declaratory judgment action to resolve a territorial dispute is not resolved by the cases holding that individuals are not authorized to bring such actions. In 1952, Spiking noted the general rule regarding individuals but then found that because the plaintiffs in the action before it were not actually existing school districts (they had been dissolved prior to suit being brought): It is unnecessary to determine whether, under particular circumstances, an alleged existing common school district may by a declaratory judgment action directly attack the validity of an alleged reorganization proceeding which purports to destroy said district by consolidation or reorganization with other districts. 245 S.W.2d at 21. In 1967, while reaffirming the general rule that an individual is not authorized to bring a declaratory judgment action to challenge the validity of a district boundary and, instead, suit must be brought by the state in a quo warranto action, this Court similarly recognized that this holding was not dispositive of the question whether such a suit could be brought by the district itself, stating: Compare: Walker Reorganized School District R-4 v. Flint et al., Mo.App., 303 S.W.2d 200, 205-206(2), cited by respondent, holding that one school district can maintain an action against another school district for a judgment declaring that defendant district had become a part of plaintiff district by annexation. In so holding the court referred specifically to page 21 of the Spiking case (245 S.W.2d and noted ... that the Supreme Court has been careful to leave the door open for the decision that the cases in which individuals are endeavoring to attack the validity of an annexation or a reorganization through a proceeding other than by quo warranto in the name of the State are not necessarily controlling where two school districts are claiming the same territory. ... See also: Reorganized School District R-I of Crawford County v. Reorganized School District R-III of Washington County, Mo.App., 360 S.W.2d 376, 378(1-2). Barker, 418 S.W.2d at 65 n. 1. Walker Reorganized Sch. Dist. R-4 v. Flint , one of the cases cited in the Barker footnote, specifically noted that Spiking had left the door open for declaratory judgment actions when two school districts are claiming the same territory. 303 S.W.2d 200, 206 (Mo.App.1957). Walker walked through the door, holding that the public policy concerns behind prohibiting individuals from bringing an independent action had no application in suits involving public school districts. It held that because these municipal bodies' interests are affected directly by a dispute over their own boundaries, they should be permitted to bring a declaratory judgment action: Both plaintiff and intervenor are public school districts. Each in its public corporate capacity is claiming the same territory, the Coal Creek District.... Both plaintiff and intervenor have a direct interest in the matter. There is no threat of harassment by individuals questioning the validity of a school district. To permit plaintiff and intervenor, in a declaratory judgment action, to determine the question of which took the first valid step to acquire the Coal Creek District does not appear to violate any of the reasons for the rule that an individual cannot question in legality of the organization of a school district by a declaratory judgment action, but must proceed, if at all, by quo warranto in the name of the State. Since the reason for that rule fails as applied to this case we do not apply the rule. Id. at 205-06 (emphasis added). [4] O'Fallon nonetheless urges this Court to close the door left open in Spiking by holding that the prohibition on declaratory judgment actions by individuals also applies to school districts and other public corporations. In support, it cites State ex rel . Members of Bd. of Educ. of Everton R-III Sch. Dist. v. Members of Bd. of Educ. of Greenfield R-IV Sch. Dist., 572 S.W.2d 899 (Mo.App.1978), and State ex inf. Sanders, ex rel. City of Lee's Summit v. City of Lake Lotawana, 220 S.W.3d 794 (Mo.App.2007). This Court rejects that invitation. While Everton did conclude that school district boundaries could only be determined in quo warranto, 572 S.W.2d at 900, it cited only State ex inf. Dalton ex rel. Hough v. Eckley, 347 S.W.2d 704 (Mo. banc 1961), and State ex rel. Purdy Reorganized Sch. Dist. No. II v. Snider, 470 S.W.2d 805, 809 (Mo.App.1971), to support that conclusion. Neither case involved a declaratory judgment action brought by one school district or municipality against another, however, nor did either offer any reasoning why such declaratory judgment suits would not be proper. Moreover, Dalton merely noted (as this Court reaffirms today) that a suit in quo warranto is  a proper remedy to test the jurisdiction of a school board over territory claimed by another school district, 347 S.W.2d at 707 (emphasis added). It did not address whether other procedural alternatives also were available. [5] Lake Lotawana, the other case involving a public corporation relied on by O'Fallon, [6] cites only to Everton and a case involving a suit by individuals, State ex rel. Kansas City v. Harris, 357 Mo. 1166, 212 S.W.2d 733 (1948), and is similarly unpersuasive. Indeed, Lake Lotawana fails to cite Walker, Crawford, Spiking or Barker and offers no independent reasons why a declaratory judgment action should not be permitted where a municipality or school district seeks a declaratory judgment as to its own boundaries. This Court finds Walker 's reasoning more persuasive. To require a directly affected municipality or other similar public corporation to rely on a third party the attorney general or a county prosecutorto bring suit over its very boundaries would risk leaving it without a remedy if the attorney general and prosecutor exercise their discretion not to act. While this is appropriate where an individual litigant is involved, to avoid the multiplicity of suits that otherwise would ensue and to ensure that spurious claims are not asserted in an effort to adversely affect the public body, such reasoning does not apply to the municipality or other public corporation itself, as it has a direct and vital interest in determining its own boundaries. To the extent Everton and Lake Lotawana hold otherwise, they no longer should be followed. While they are correct that a quo warranto action by the attorney general or prosecuting or circuit attorney at the relation of the public corporation is proper to determine a boundary dispute such as this under Rule 98.02, so too is a declaratory judgment action brought directly by the municipality or other public corporation itself.