Court Opinion

ID: 9771113
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 16:32:45.179436+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:25.254298
License: Public Domain

BLACKMAR, Judge,
concurring.
It is the responsibility of counsel for the party in whose favor a judgment runs to make sure that there is a proper judgment entry which will accomplish the client’s purpose.
Therefore, if the Highway Commission wanted a judgment which would start the appeal time running, and bar further proceedings by the plaintiff if no appeal were taken, it should have submitted a judgment entry containing the magic words of Rule 74.01, “no just reason for delay.” Failing that, the judgment was not appealable on its face and so the plaintiff’s time for appeal did not run.
Stemley v. Downtown Medical Bldg. Inc., 762 S.W.2d 43 (Mo. banc 1988), does not stand in the way of this conclusion. There both parties were quite willing to participate in the appeal, and we excused the formalities because of the newness of the governing rule. It might have been possible to remand that case so that the trial court might be approached for a suitable entry, but it seemed practical not to do so. It is a step further to say that a party may be prejudiced by an order which is not appealable on its face.
Perhaps plaintiff’s counsel was imprudent in not appealing earlier, when the trial judge so plainly intended an appealable order. Or the plaintiff could have sought modification of the order. But the appeal time cannot run on a judgment which is not in appealable form.