Court Opinion

ID: 9668844
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 02:28:35.832646+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:48.946911
License: Public Domain

KELLY, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent.
The opinion of the majority states essentially the rules of law applicable to the review by this court of an appeal from the action of a trial court in sustaining the motion of a party to dismiss for failure to prosecute pursuant to Rule 67.02 and Sec*745tion 510.140, RSMo.1969, V.A.M.S., and the inherent power of the court so to do*. However, whether a given case should be dismissed for want of prosecution does not depend solely upon the length of time the case has been pending, but must be determined, in the exercise of sound judicial discretion, upon all the facts and circumstances of the particular case. Schreck v. Parker, 388 S.W.2d 538, 541 [2] (Mo.App., 1965). And once the trial court has exercised its discretion it is presumed that the action taken was correct and the burden rests upon the appellant to make an affirmative showing of error as a condition precedent to reversal. Schreck v. Parker, supra, 541 [3],
In reaching its conclusion the majority hold that not only must the respondent show injury, but “in addition thereto, there is a failure to prosecute at the time the motion is filed.” (Emphasis supplied.) This, in effect, shifts the burden to the respondent and if taken literally would deprive the reviewing court from looking behind the situation existing at the time the motion is filed, regardless of the facts and circumstances which might influence the trial court in the exercise of a sound discretion.
One fact and circumstance which this writer feels the trial court could, and did, consider was whether the failure of the appellant to timely prosecute its case for a period of more than six years put the respondent at an unfair disadvantage. This is particularly so in a case of this nature, where the appellant in the exercise of its power of eminent domain has taken the property of one of its citizens. The Constitution of Missouri, 1945, Art. 1, § 10, V.A.M.S., guarantees that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. By its very nature, a trial on exceptions to the Commissioners' Award in a condemnation case, revolves around the testimony of a qualified real estate appraiser familiar with the condition of the land taken and its value as of the time of taking. Without such testimony the landowner suffers a disadvantage, which in some cases deprives her of due process, and reduces the trial of the exceptions to a sham. The measure of damages is the market value of the property at the time of the taking. The appellant has utterly failed to show that the absence and unavailability of the respondent’s appraiser did not put the respondent at an unfair disadvantage and has, therefore, failed to carry its burden on appeal to demonstrate that the trial court abused its discretion when it dismissed Appellant’s Exceptions. Nor has the majority specifically so held; if at all, they have done so by inference alone.
The majority, in addition to finding that the appellant, at the time the motion to dismiss was filed, had finally awoke from its lethargy and placed the Exceptions on the trial calendar and therefore put the proceedings in a position to evade the natural consequences of its foot-dragging, also concluded that the respondent, by consenting with the appellant to two continuances and thereafter requesting two continuances on her own behalf waived her right to a dismissal on the grounds stated. The majority distinguish City of Jefferson v. Capital City Oil Company, 286 S.W.Zd 65 (Mo.App., 1956) and places emphasis on the sentence in the opinion that the record did not disclose any entry or order of continuance made in the trial court during the entire time the exceptions were pending. The holding of the case is stated as follows, however, p. 68:
“It is our conclusion that when the Schells showed that the city’s exceptions had been pending for five years and four months, an unreasonable delay unless a valid excuse was shown, they were not required to also show that they had been injured thereby, or that the city had obtained some advantage.” (Emphasis supplied.)
What brought about the quoted sentence with respect to the continuance was the contention that the respondent’s motion to dismiss in the City of Jefferson case was *746without merit if the moving party is also an actor in the case and has acquiesced in the delay. This attack was two-pronged: 1) that the Schells had consented to- a continuance in May of 1954 and, 2) that the Schells, having also filed exceptions to the Commissioners’ report were in the same position as a defendant who filed a counterclaim and therefore becomes an actor in the suit, and would not therefore be entitled to a dismissal for want of prosecution. This on the theory that when the defendant seeks affirmative relief he too should make some reasonable effort to bring the case to trial himself, and absent such effort cannot take advantage of the fact that the plaintiff has been guilty of neglect or of unreasonable delay.
The Schells denied any consent to a continuance and the record was devoid of any such entry. It was under those circumstances that the sentence quoted by the majority was written by the court; nowhere in the opinion did the court say that if the record had shown such a consent to continuance this would have affected its decision in the case. It merely deferred to the trial court’s finding on the fact issue. As the court did say, p. 69:
“However, the city’s principal contention under this point is that the Schells, having filed exceptions to the report of the commissioners, are in the same position as a defendant who files a counterclaim
And the court then proceeded to hold, p. 69:
“It is our conclusion that the weight of authority is that the mere fact that the Schells had also filed exceptions to the report of the commissioners would not affect their right to file a motion for dismissal of the city’s exceptions.”
What concerns me most about the majority opinion is that it overlooks the requirement of the City of Jefferson case that after so long a delay, here six years, the duty devolves upon the condemning authority to give a valid excuse for that delay and the property owner was therefore not required to show that it had been injured by the delay or that the condemning authority had obtained some advantage. This record is absolutely without any explanation whatsoever of the reason for the delay on the part of the condemning authority. The burden lies first on it to furnish a valid excuse, otherwise, as City of Jefferson holds, the dismissal is proper.
For the reasons stated I am unwilling to convict the trial court of an abuse of discretion and would therefore affirm.