Court Opinion

ID: 9643910
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 20:43:26.435977+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:05.488595
License: Public Domain

WELLIVER, Judge,
concurring.
I concur.
The issue in this case having most far-reaching implications is the permissive, rather than mandatory, language of Rule 52.11, which provides in part that “a defending party, as a third-party plaintiff, may cause a summons and petition to be served upon a person not a party to the action who is or may be liable to him for all or part of the plaintiff’s claim against him.” (Emphasis added.)
I have already indicated my belief that our decision in Missouri Pacific Railroad v. Whitehead & Kales Co., 566 S.W.2d 466 (Mo. banc 1978), effectively overruled State ex rel. McClure v. Dinwiddie, 358 Mo. 15, 213 S.W.2d 127 (Mo. banc 1948), which permitted a plaintiff to decline to accept a proffered defendant. Parks v. Union Carbide Corp., 602 S.W.2d 188, 196 (Mo. banc 1980) (Welliver, J., dissenting). I would now urge that we refer Rule 52.11 to our rules committee for consideration of whether we should make the rule mandatory rather than permissive. A mandatory rule would further the goal of judicial economy, get everyone into a single lawsuit, achieve consistency of result, and in fact implement the doctrine of fairness that both Whitehead & Kales and the principal opinion recognize. It also would eliminate any question of due process.