Court Opinion

ID: 9777942
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 20:28:17.247882+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:02.601692
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
PER CURIAM.
Respondents argue in their motion for rehearing that this court erred when it reversed the judgment dismissing appellant’s suit for dissolution of the Blue Valley Metal Products partnership, now contending that appellant has no standing to maintain the action under § 358.320, RSMo 1986, because appellant has previously been adjudged not to be a partner in the Blue Valley entity. The contention was not previously briefed or argued on this appeal and was therefore not considered in the opinion.
The petition which appellant filed for dissolution of the partnership alleged that Hamilton Metals, Inc., was a partner in Blue Valley Metal Products Co., holding an interest of 11.75 percent. The answer denied the allegation. Respondents say that the effect of the arbitrator’s award in the companion case which denied appellant’s claim to a share of the proceeds from sale of Blue Valley assets was to declare also that appellant was not a partner in the venture.
The arbitrator’s award appearing in the record on appeal contains no findings, only the conclusion that the issues were determined in favor of respondents here. If in fact the arbitrator did reach such a conclusion as respondents now contend, that was not the basis on which they moved the trial court for dismissal nor did the trial court so find. To the contrary, the trial court ruled that the issues and factual bases in the two cases, the suit for a share of the partnership assets and the suit for dissolution of the partnership, were the same and the suits were therefore duplicative.
It may well be that respondents can present proof or a record sufficient to establish that appellant lacks standing to maintain the suit for dissolution of the partnership. The record here is not sufficient, however, to resolve the case on that basis, particularly where the question was not presented to or ruled on by the trial court. The proceedings on remand provide an adequate opportunity for respondents to raise the issue and to secure a dismissal of the cause if in fact appellant does lack the requisite standing to maintain the statutory action.