Court Opinion

ID: 9679453
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 06:53:19.397352+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:13.645755
License: Public Domain

*137FLANIGAN, Judge,
concurring in part; dissenting in part.
The petition is in three counts. Divers cross-claims and counterclaims were filed. In a pretrial order the trial court limited the trial to Count I of the petition and “whether or not specific performance should be granted on Count II” of the petition.
Count I, in effect, sought a declaratory judgment. After pleading the underlying facts, Count I requested the following relief: (1) a declaration that the quitclaim deed dated September 17,1971, is void as a forged document; (2) a declaration that the preemptive right or right of first refusal (hereinafter called “the restraint”) contained in the quitclaim deed of April 26, 1968, is valid; (3) a declaration that the interests of the trustee and the Production Credit Association under the deeds of trust are subordinate to the restraint; and (4) cancellation of the deed of February 26, 1986, conveying two acres of the Prewitt farm to the Greens, or a declaration that the grantees’ interest under that deed is subordinate to plaintiffs’ rights under the restraint.
Count II incorporated the factual allegations of Count I and further alleged that plaintiffs have no adequate remedy at law. The prayer of Count II requested specific performance of the restraint, including execution of a deed by the personal representative of the estate of Harvey E. Nickels, deceased, conveying the Prewitt farm to the plaintiffs “upon payment by plaintiffs to [the personal representative] of the amounts required under [the restraint].”
The trial court found the issues on Count I in favor of the plaintiffs and granted the relief requested. With respect to Count II, however, the trial court purported to find in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered the personal representative to execute the requested deed “upon payment by plaintiffs of the amount due under said [restraint] to be later determined by this court. The relative rights of defendants to the sums due under [the restraint] shall also be determined by later order of this court.”
“It is the final judgment on a claim, not the ruling on a pleaded issue, that is ap-pealable.” Weir v. Bruñe, 364 Mo. 415, 262 S.W.2d 597, 600 (1953). A judgment which is indefinite is void and unenforceable. Luna v. Grisham, 620 S.W.2d 427, 428[1] (Mo.App.1981). (Citing authorities.) A judgment must be in such form that execution may issue without requiring external proof and another hearing. Wyma v. Kauffman, 665 S.W.2d 82, 83[2] (Mo. App.1984); Luna v. Grisham, supra, at 428[2], The quoted portion of the trial court’s ruling with respect to Count II makes that ruling indefinite. It also requires external proof and another hearing. Under the foregoing authorities the portion of the trial court’s judgment which purports to adjudicate the rights of the parties with respect to Count II is void and not appealable.
The trial court did designate its judgment as a final one for purposes of appeal, as authorized by former Rule 81.06, now repealed. That order was effective with respect to Count I and the claims contained in it. See Speck v. Union Electric Company, 731 S.W.2d 16, 20 (Mo. banc 1987). The judgment on Count I is properly here.
I concur in the portion of the majority opinion which affirms the judgment on Count I. I dissent from that portion of the majority opinion which purports to adjudicate Count II.