Court Opinion

ID: 9648736
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 14:33:48.14889+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:05.084634
License: Public Domain

STORCKMAN, Judge
(dissenting).
There are two principal reasons why I cannot concur in the adoption of the divi*717sional opinion as the opinion of the court en banc.
First, this procedure overlooks and fails to consider and dispose of the plaintiff-appellant’s point to be argued as restated in her supplemental brief filed and presented to the court en banc for decision.
Second, multiple appeals in the same case do not make separate cases in the appellate court and the appeals must be considered as “one case”. The result of dismissing one of the appeals (once well vested in this court) and of transferring the other is the fragmentation of the “one case on appeal” and a piecemeal disposition which is not necessary under the law and is not desirable in that it is likely to result in injustices that the “one case on appeal” rule was designed to avoid.
The two appeals here involved were taken in the same case from the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis. One was lodged in this court initially; it was taken by the plaintiff from an adverse judgment in her suit for $50,000 against the defendant Newman. The other defendant, a Mrs. Den-ton, appealed to the St. Louis Court of Appeals from the $10,000 judgment against her and in favor of the plaintiff. The Den-ton appeal was properly transferred to this court by the St. Louis Court of Appeals. The appeals were briefed, argued and submitted first in Division Two then on transfer in the court en banc where the plaintiff filed a supplemental brief as appellant. For brief and convenient distinction, we will sometimes refer to plaintiff’s appeal as the $50,000 judgment or appeal and the defendant Denton’s appeal as the $10,000 judgment or appeal.
The majority opinion in Division Two as originally written held that plaintiff’s assignment of error (which was conditional or in the alternative) must be considered abandoned because it was defectively briefed. In transferring the case however, the opinion made no specific disposition of the $50,000 appeal. A dissenting opinion was filed pointing out that there was no such disposition of a case on appeal known as “abandonment”, but that appeals could only be disposed of in accordance with Civil Rule 83.13(c), V.A.M.R., and § 512.160, subd. 3, RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S., or Civil Rule 83.09. The dissenting opinion also opposed the transfer on the ground that any disposition of the $50,000 appeal was in effect an affirmance of the judgment, was a partial exercise of this court’s jurisdiction, and that this court should dispose of the entire case on appeal. Thereafter, without granting a rehearing, the divisional opinion was modified in several respects and concluded with the dismissal of the $50,000 appeal and the transfer of the $10,000 appeal to the St. Louis Court of Appeals. The case was then transferred to the court en banc.
In the court en banc, as she had a right to do, the plaintiff filed a supplemental brief and argument as appellant. She restated the point which had been held defective in Division Two and cited authorities. As presented in the court en banc, plaintiff’s point reads as follows: “In the event that this Court should find that the trial court erred in giving Instruction No. 5, a sole cause Instruction, offered by defendant Denton [Newman], for the reason that this Instruction was erroneous in: (1) failing to hypothesize the relative positions of the two automobiles and defendant Den-ton’s ability to see the Newman automobile, and (2) enlarging Denton’s duty to yield the right of way by requiring her to yield the right of way regardless of whether she saw or could have seen the Newman automobile, then in that event it necessarily follows that Instruction No. 5 was prejudicially erroneous not only as to defendant Denton, but also as to plaintiff, and for these same reasons plaintiff should be granted a new trial on her claim against Newman. Snider v. King, Mo.App., 344 S.W.2d 265; Happy v. Blanton, Mo., 303 S.W.2d 633; Schmittzehe v. City of Cape Girardeau, Mo., 327 S.W.2d 918.” There*718after the respondent Newman also filed a supplemental brief in the court en banc.
The plaintiff’s assignment of error in the form presented in Division Two is set out in the second paragraph of the majority-opinion. This is the point relied on which the majority opinion says “sets forth no action or ruling of the trial court which is contended to be erroneous”, which is the requirement of Civil Rule 83.05(a) (3). The restatement of the point as presented in the court en banc has not been ruled.
Both statements of the point are sufficient in my opinion to tell the court what relief the plaintiff seeks and why. This is not an unusual practice; it has been recognized in numerous cases. For instance, in the recent case of Nuchols v. Andrews Investment Co., Mo.App., 364 S.W.2d 128, 131, the court states that “plaintiffs, admittedly solely as a precautionary measure, and only in the event of success in this appeal by Andrews Investment Company, seek to have the judgment amended or modified so as to make it a joint judgment against all the defendants or in the alternative seek a new’ trial as to defendants Johnson on the question of liability alone.” Italics added.
Civil Rule 41.03 provides: “These rules shall be construed to secure simplicity and uniformity in civil procedure, fairness in the administration of justice, and the elimination of unjustifiable expense and delay.” Civil Rule 83.24 provides: “These rules shall be liberally construed to promote justice, to minimize the number of cases disposed of on procedural questions and to facilitate and increase the disposition of cases on their merits.” Contrary to the letter and spirit of these rules, the majority opinion places an unusually strict construction on plaintiff’s statement of her point which prevents a review on the merits and produces far-reaching, disorders. The appellate courts of this state have encouraged compliance with the rules in briefing appellate cases, but if the strictness applied in the majority opinion were to be enforced in all cases before this court few of them would be disposed of on the merits.
Plaintiff’s restatement of her point for the hearing by the court en banc is a decided improvement and about as good as can be done with the alternative or conditional plea that plaintiff is making. It is certainly understandable and is consistent with our rules and decisions that permit statements of claims and relief to be made “alternately and hypothetically.” Civil Rules 55.06 and 55.12, V.A.M.R.; Gomillia v. Missouri Pacific R. Co., Mo., 345 S.W.2d 202, 209 [4].
The divisional opinion which the court en banc adopted is unsuited for the determination of the case presented in the court en banc. Thus, the opinion of the court en banc is erroneous in that it overlooks and fails to consider plaintiff’s point as restated in her supplemental brief filed and presented in the court en banc. Civil Rule 83.16.
If the majority opinion stands, there will be two mandates issued with respect to a single judgment of the trial court and at different times. One will issue from the supreme court on the dismissal of the $50,-000 appeal and the other at some future time from the court of appeals on its action with respect to the $10,000 appeal. This will be contrary to a long-established practice hitherto considered satisfactory.
In an action there can be only one final judgment which must dispose of the case as to all parties and the same case cannot be pending on appeal in different appellate courts. Morton v. Southwestern Telegraph & Telephone Co., 280 Mo. 360, 217 S.W. 831, 833 [1]. Where more than one party appeals and the amount in dispute in either appeal gives the supreme court jurisdiction, both appeals should be sent to that court for final determination in order to avoid inconsistent judgments in the same case. Morton v. Southwestern Telegraph & Telephone Co., supra.
*719The rule has heretofore been well settled that separate appeals must be disposed of by one appellate court since they constitute but one case on appeal. Walsh v. Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., 331 Mo. 118, 52 S.W.2d 839, 840 [2]; Ruehling v. Pickwick-Greyhound Lines, 337 Mo. 196, 85 S.W.2d 602 [1]; Punch v. Hipolite Co., 340 Mo. 53, 100 S.W.2d 878, 880 [1]; Flynn v. First National Safe Deposit Co., Mo., 284 S.W.2d 593, 597 [12]; Coonce v. Missouri Pacific R. Co., Mo.App., 347 S.W.2d 242, 243 [2]. The Flynn case states, 284 S.W.2d loc. cit. 597: “No provision exists for a party to ‘split’ a judgment and to take separate appeals from each part.”
In order to preserve the integrity of the one-case rule and maintain orderly procedure in the disposition of cases, the propriety of defendant Newman’s Instruction No. 5 should have been considered and the result applied to the Denton appeal and plaintiff’s appeal in accordance with the determination made. At that point there could have been a dismissal of the plaintiff’s appeal if the court considered that appropriate. Civil Rule 83.13(c), V.A.M.R., and § 512.160, subd. 3, RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S. Civil Rule 83.09 provides that if an appellant fails to comply with certain rules required to perfect the appeal, the court may “dismiss the appeal or affirm the judgment” at the time “the cause is called for hearing.” A dismissal is usually employed where there is a total failure, such as not filing a transcript. In the present case a judicial determination was necessary.
The opinion relies on Heuer v. Ulmer, Mo., 273 S.W.2d 169, which case was transferred on a somewhat similar set of facts without a dismissal. I think Heuer is subject to the same criticism as the present case and should not be followed. Nor can I agree with the distinction attempted to be made regarding Tant v. Gee, 348 Mo. 633, 154 S.W.2d 745. It could have been as logically said in Tant that there was no live issue in this court regarding that part of the decree which granted specific performance of a contract to sell real estate; that the only issue remaining for decision was the amount of the credits on the purchase price; and that such issue should be transferred since the amount thereof did not exceed the jurisdiction of the court of appeals.
The majority opinion discloses what appears to be two lines of authority as to when appellate jurisdiction is determined. One is that appellate jurisdiction is determined upon the record in the trial court at the time the notice of appeal is filed and that nothing occurring subsequently will defeat or confer jurisdiction. The other is that jurisdiction may be lost or shifted by reason of appellant’s failure to brief the issues which vested the supreme court with jurisdiction at the time the appeal was taken or by briefing such issues defectively. This decision creates further jurisdictional problems by placing the imprimatur of the court en banc upon the fragmentation of an appellate case with consequent exposure to gross injustices due to piecemeal decisions by different appellate courts. This is not only contrary to well-established principles, but it also is an unnecessary waste of manpower that could better be spent writing the case on the merits.
The problems connected with appellate jurisdiction have been of concern to the Bench and Bar for some time. Judges of the appellate courts are acutely aware of the waste of manpower and delay arising under present constitutional provisions relating to appellate jurisdiction. The chief concern of lawyers is the expeditious disposition of their appeals rather than which appellate court decides them. Changes in the constitutional provisions relating to appellate jurisdiction are perhaps the most satisfactory solution; but the possibility of changes are matters for the distant future. In the meantime the decisions of the appellate courts can be clarified and simplified so as to alleviate somewhat the duplication of effort and delay now involved.
For these reasons I respectfully dissent.