Court Opinion

ID: 9766903
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 05:02:10.791401+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:27.048555
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
WELLIVER, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the Order denying Rehearing and concur in the dissent filed today by Higgins, J. The appellant-guardian ad litem and the respondents have raised on rehearing the fact that the Court has overlooked Rule 84.15 and § 477.020, RSMo 1986, which provide:
Rule 84.15. Decision of Majority of Judges Shall Be Decision of Court.
The decision of the majority of the judges of this Court sitting en banc or of any. district of the Court of Appeals sitting en banc shall be the decision of the court, but if in any case the judges shall be equally divided in opinion then an additional judge shall be temporarily transferred to the court or district pursuant to Section 6, Article V, of the Constitution and the case shall be reheard. The decision of the majority of the judges of a division of this Court shall be the decision of the court unless the case is transferred to the court en banc. Unless pursuant to its own rules a district of the Court of Appeals determines to hear a case en banc, the decision of a majority of a division of that district shall be the decision of the district. (Emphasis ours)
Section 477.020. Majority decision-special judge appointed, when and by whom. — The decision of the majority of the judges of the supreme court or of any district of the court of appeals shall be the decision of the court, but if in any case the judges shall be equally divided in opinion, the parties to the cause may agree upon some person learned in the law, who shall act as special judge in the cause, and who shall sit therein with the court, and give decision in the same manner and with the same effect as one of the judges; and such agreement shall be in writing, signed by the parties or their *445attorneys of record, and filed with the papers and form a part of the record in the cause. If the parties cannot agree upon a special judge, the court shall appoint, by an order of record, some person possessing the qualifications aforesaid, to act as such special judge.
Section 477.020, RSMo 1986.
It was not known until the vote was taken in this case that the regular judges of the Court were evenly divided. The Rule and statute mandate in the clearest possible language that the cause be reheard.
I would order a rehearing before seven regular judges during the January Term, 1989.