Court Opinion

ID: 9609178
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:23:36.566518+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:18.306663
License: Public Domain

PHILLIP R. GARRISON, Judge,
concurring.
I concur with the result reached in this case, and write separately only to explain why I believe this case is distinguishable from Citizens for Envtl. Safety, Inc. v. Missouri Department of Nat’l Resources, 12 S.W.3d 720 (Mo.App. S.D.1999), cited in the principal opinion, and from which I
*822dissented. In that dissent, I pointed out that in State ex rel. Missouri Highway and Transp. Comm’n v. Muegge, 842 S.W.2d 192, 195 (Mo.App.-E.D.1992), the court acknowledged that “shall” is generally mandatory, and that cases deciding whether a requirement is mandatory or directory look at the effect of ruling one way or the other. Citizens for Envtl. Safety, Inc. at 730. I also expressed my opinion that Farmers and Merchants Bank v. Director of Revenue, 896 S.W.2d 30 (Mo. banc 1995), did not establish the ironclad rule that a statute is automatically directory rather than mandatory anytime “shall” is used without the inclusion of a sanction for the failure to comply with it. Citizens for Envtl. Safety at 730. Rather, I believe that the result in Farmers and Merchants Bank was reached upon a review of a statute in the context of the facts of that case. In Citizens for Envtl. Safety, I concluded that “shall,” as used in the statute under consideration there, was mandatory, considering the apparent intent of the legislature as gleaned from the purpose of the statute, the context in which it was used, and the effect if it and other statutes utilizing the term were interpreted as being directory. Id. at 730.
In this case, I believe that the determination that “shall” is directory is correct. Otherwise, the Commission would lose jurisdiction to award compensation to an injured employee, a result obviously at odds with the concept that the Workers’ Compensation Law is to be liberally construed with a view to the public welfare, and in furtherance of the public policy that an employee is entitled to have compensation for any injury that is clearly job-related and arises out of and in the course of his employment. Parrott v. HQ, Inc., 907 S.W.2d 236, 240 (Mo.App.S.D.1995). “Accordingly, our courts consistently hold that in construction of the Act, any doubt or question as to the right of an employee to compensation shall be resolved in favor of the injured employee.” Id. (citing Wolfgeher v. Wagner Cartage Serv., Inc., 646 S.W.2d 781, 783 (Mo. banc 1983)).
I concur with the principal opinion based on the context in which the term “shall” is used here, and considering the effect if construed differently. In doing so, I continue in my belief that the intent surrounding the use of the term “shall,” and the context in which it is used, should determine whether it is mandatory or directory rather than an automatic rule applied in the absence of a sanction for a violation of a statute.