Opinion ID: 1353839
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the four funds

Text: Fund I: SC84210. This fund was created after this Court held in State ex rel. Utility Consumers' Council of Missouri, Inc. v. Public Service Commission, 585 S.W.2d 41 (Mo. banc 1979), that the Public Service Commission (PSC) was without authority to permit certain utility companies to impose a specific type of fuel cost surcharge and remanded for a determination by [the circuit court] of the amounts due as a result of the surcharge and to whom, and the proper method of restitution. Id. at 60. [4] In compliance with the circuit court's order on remand, the utilities made refunds to most of the customers who had previously paid the surcharge. But, some of these customers could not be immediately identified or located. The utilities, therefore, paid over the funds they believed due to the latter customers into the registry of the court. Because it might take some time to distribute the funds to all identifiable claimants and because the funds needed to be held and administered during that period, the court set up a receivership. It appointed Julie Smith as receiver pursuant to Rule 68.02, directed her to hold and administer the funds so that refunds may be made therefrom to utility customers, and authorized her to apply the interest on the funds in the manner provided by section 483.310(2). [5] Fund II: SC84211. This fund was created after Old Security Life Insurance Company was placed into receivership by order of the Circuit Court of Cole County. These proceedings were so successful that a substantial balance remained even after the payment of all claims against the company and the payment of the expenses of the receivership. Accordingly, a class action adversary proceeding was thereafter filed within the receivership case to determine the disposition of the excess funds. [6] The parties eventually reached a settlement providing that a portion of the settlement proceeds were to be set aside as a reserve for additional claims and expenses of the insurance receivership. Class attorneys and the receiver were largely successful in making disbursements from this reserve, but some checks to class members were either returned or not cashed, and some checks were never issued because the recipients could not be located. Accordingly, the circuit court created a receivership, [7] appointed Elaine Healey as receiver under Rule 68.02, and directed her to hold the funds that remained undistributed for the benefit of such class members and apply the interest as permitted in section 483.310(2). In 1991, with the agreement of class counsel, the circuit court entered an Order Establishing Trust for Undistributed Class Actions Proceeds. This effectively transferred the fund to Elaine Healey in trust for the benefit of the class members, according to the same terms as in the receivership. The purpose of the transfer was so that the fund would remain available so that the intent of the settlement agreement would continue to be satisfied as claimants stepped forward. Fund III: SC84212. This fund was created after Southwestern Bell and the Office of Public Counsel, in a consolidated case, petitioned for review and for stay of a decision of the PSC that required Southwestern Bell to implement lower rates. [8] The circuit court entered a stay and ordered Southwestern Bell to pay into the registry of the court that portion of telephone charges collected that would be in excess of rates that would have been collected but for the stay. Because it might take some time to distribute the funds to all identifiable claimants and because the fund needed to be held and administered during that period, the court appointed Jackie Blackwell as receiver under Rule 68.02 to administer the fund, to make refunds therefrom to customers, and to apply the interest on the funds as provided in section 483.310(2). Fund IV: SC84213. This fund also arose out of a telephone rate dispute. It was created after Southwestern Bell petitioned for review and for stay of a decision of the PSC that required Southwestern Bell to implement lower rates. [9] The circuit court granted Southwestern Bell a temporary restraining order, prohibiting the implementation of rate reductions as ordered by the PSC but directing Southwestern Bell to pay into the registry of the court all monies collected from customers in excess of the rates set by the PSC. The circuit court eventually dismissed Southwestern Bell's petition with prejudice and entered an order approving distribution of the funds collected after the stay. Because some customers with claims to portions of the fund could not be located, those funds were paid into the registry of the court, and the court appointed a receiver, Sharon Morgan, pursuant to Rule 68.02. The receiver was similarly authorized to apply the interest on the funds in the manner permitted by section 483.310(2).