Court Opinion

ID: 9659476
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 21:47:21.223926+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:08.607787
License: Public Domain

EDWIN H. SMITH,
Presiding Judge, concurring.
I concur in the result only.
Although I concur in the result reached by the majority, I disagree with the route taken. With all due respect, the route chosen by the majority, in my judgment, is unnecessarily circuitous. I believe there exists a more direct and straightforward route in reaching the conclusion that the trial court here erred in granting Mr. Hippo’s petition for declaratory judgment.
Appellant claims that the trial court erred in granting respondent a declaratory judgment in that he lacked the necessary standing to seek a declaratory judgment establishing coverage under Hippo’s parents’ homeowners insurance policy to collect his judgment against Hippo, because respondent’s exclusive remedy was an equitable garnishment action brought pursuant to § 379.200, RSMo (1991). In this regard, appellant argues that the trial court lacked the authority to grant respondent a declaratory judgment, as prayed for in his petition, in that, based on the facts pled therein and the reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom, he could not avail himself of the declaratory judgment act to collect his judgment against Hippo. Thus, the issue which must be initially addressed here is whether respondent’s petition for declaratory judgment, given its most liberal construction and according it all reasonable inferences deducible from the facts stated therein, stated a cause of action so as to vest the trial court with the authority to grant its declaratory judgment for respondent. Adkisson v. Director of Revenue, 891 S.W.2d 131, 132 (Mo.1995).
The Missouri Supreme Court has held that a party cannot resort to the declaratory judgment act for relief where a different, adequate and specific statutory method is provided. Adkisson, 891 S.W.2d at 133. In this respect, § 379.200 provides in pertinent part:
Upon the recovery of a judgment against any person ... by any person ... for loss or damage on account of bodily injury or death, or damage to property if the defendant in such action was insured against said loss or damage at the time when the right of action arose, the judgment creditor shall be entitled to have the insurance money, provided for in the contract of insurance between the insurance company ... and the defendant, applied to the satisfaction of the judgment, and if the judgment is not satisfied within thirty days after the date when it is rendered, the judgment creditor may proceed in equity against the defendant and the insurance company to reach and apply the insurance money to the satisfaction of the judgment.
§ 379.200, RSMo (1991). Contrary to the assertion of the majority, this section does not authorize a judgment creditor to proceed generally in equity, but for the limited purpose of garnishing insurance money to satisfy a judgment obtained against an insured. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Allen, 744 S.W.2d 782, 786 (Mo.1988). “The theory of the garnishment action is that the insurer is in possession of a fund dedicated to the payment of judgments against the insured to the extent of the policy limits.” Id.
As to the § 379.200 remedy, it is unnecessary to decide whether it was respondent’s exclusive remedy for collecting his judgment against Hippo, as appellant contends, in that the issue of exclusivity is irrelevant to the disposition of this appeal. What is relevant is the fact that this specific statutory remedy provided respondent with an adequate remedy to collect his judgment against Hippo. Thus, under the clear language of the Missouri Supreme Court’s holding in Adkisson, respondent could not seek relief under the declaratory judgment act, Adkisson, 891 S.W.2d at 132, and the trial court erred in not dismissing his petition for declaratory judgment.
Conclusion
I would reverse the declaratory judgment of the trial court and remand the cause to it *591with direction to dismiss respondent’s petition for declaratory judgment.