Court Opinion

ID: 9611444
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:56:50.625732+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:15.957991
License: Public Domain

JOSEPH M. ELLIS, Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the result reached by the majority, but write separately because I differ on the route taken to get there.
As the majority notes, neither § 287.110.1 nor § 287.120 is ambiguous when read alone. Maj. Op. at 107. However, “[c]ourts must read statutes that deal with the same subject matter in pari materia.” State v. Pembleton, 978 S.W.2d 352, 355 (Mo.App.E.D.1998). When we do so in this case, it becomes abundantly clear that the language of the two sections are in conflict and cannot be harmonized. Therefore, it is incumbent on the court to apply rules of construction to resolve the conflict.
The majority opinion concedes that § 287.120 is a more specific statute than § 287.110.1 in that the former details the exclusive rights and remedies of injured employees against their employers. Maj. Op. at 108. “Where one statute deals with a subject in general terms and another deals with the same subject in more specific terms, the two statutes should be harmonized if possible. ‘To the extent that this conflict cannot be reconciled, however, the more specific statute prevails over the general statute.’ ” Ricketts v. Ricketts, 113 S.W.3d 255, 258 (Mo.App. W.D.2003) (quoting Rich v. Peters, 50 S.W.3d 814, 819 (Mo.App. W.D.2001)) (internal citation omitted). Since § 287.110.1 and § 287.120 cannot be harmonized otherwise, the more specific statute, § 287.120, must prevail.
In my view, this ends the analysis, and we need not address absurd results and the like as the majority opinion finds necessary. The majority does so because it concludes that application of the specific over the general rule of construction would not give effect to every word, clause, and sentence in a statute as required by another rule of construction. Maj. Op. at 108. The flaw in the majority’s reasoning is that courts frequently are unable to give meaning to every word, clause, and sentence in a statute where two statutes conflict. For example, in Smith v. Missouri Local Government Employees Retirement System, 235 S.W.3d 578 (Mo.App. W.D.2007), this Court was confronted with a conflict be*111tween § 452.140, which provides that no assets are exempt from execution for spousal maintenance, and § 70.695, which protects the MOLAGERS fund from any execution other than for child support. Id. at 581. We concluded that the two statutes could not be harmonized and that the more specific statute must take precedence over the more general. Id. 582. In doing so, we disregarded completely the express language of § 452.140 that “[n]o property shall be exempt from attachment or execution in a proceeding instituted by a person for maintenance, nor from attachment or execution upon a judgment or order issued to enforce a decree for alimony....” See Id. at 581-82; see also Ricketts, 118 S.W.3d at 258 (disregarding language prohibiting modification of division of marital property in one statute because of more specific authorization of modification of a QDRO in another statute).
Thus, I would give precedence to the more specific statute, § 287.120, and end the discussion at that point, while thereby reaching the same disposition of the instant appeal as does the majority.
Finally, while I share many of the concerns and agree with many of the thoughts expressed by Judge Holliger, I do not wholly concur with all aspects of his opinion. Nevertheless, I would be remiss if I did not say that I find his reconstruction of the events leading up to the legislature’s drafting and editing errors compelling. It certainly affirms the appropriateness of the analysis I would utilize to resolve the case and once again reminds us of the great benefit that would be derived if the Missouri General Assembly maintained a legislative history similar to that of United States Congress.