Babb v. Bartlett
| Decision Date | 14 December 2021 |
| Docket Number | No. ED 109479,ED 109479 |
| Parties | Charles BABB and Autumn Babb, Appellants, v. Tiffany BARTLETT, Respondent. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
FOR APPELLANT: James V. O'Brien, Andrew S. Buchanan, Buchanan, Williams & O'Brien, PC, 2240 South Brentwood, St. Louis, Missouri 63144.
FOR RESPONDENT: Susan M. Herold, Rynearson, Suess, Schnurbusch & Champion, LLC, 500 North Broadway, Suite 1550, St. Louis, Missouri 63102, Paul N. Rechenberg, Rechenberg Law, LLC, 215 Chesterfield Business Parkway, Chesterfield, Missouri 63005.
Autumn Babb ("Autumn"), in her individual capacity and as Plaintiff Ad Litem for her recently deceased husband, Charles Babb ("Charles")1 (Autumn and Charles are hereinafter collectively "Appellants"), appeals from the judgment of the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, which granted Tiffany Bartlett's ("Bartlett") motion to dismiss Appellants’ claims against her for lack of personal jurisdiction. This lawsuit was commenced by Appellants in April of 2020, and arises from personal injuries Charles allegedly sustained in a vehicular accident with Bartlett that occurred in California in May of 2018. However, due to Charles's death in August of 2021, Autumn was substituted as Plaintiff Ad Litem for Charles in this matter in September of 2021, shortly before oral argument and submission of this case. In her sole point on appeal, Autumn argues that the circuit court erred in finding that Bartlett was not subject to personal jurisdiction under Missouri's "long-arm" statute because, even though Charles, Autumn, and Bartlett were Oklahoma residents at all relevant times and the accident occurred in California, Bartlett purportedly engaged in certain conduct enumerated in the statute and it was foreseeable that Bartlett could be haled into a Missouri court for the claims asserted against her in this lawsuit.
We affirm.
Viewed in the light most favorable to Autumn, and giving her the benefit of all reasonable inferences therefrom, the record on appeal reveals the following facts:
On April 7, 2020, Appellants filed their original three-count Petition against Bartlett and her employer, Meier Environmental Services and Associates, Inc. d/b/a Mesa, Inc. ("Mesa") (Bartlett and Mesa are hereinafter collectively "Respondents"), alleging that on or about May 31, 2018, Bartlett was negligent in the operation of a commercial motor vehicle that caused serious physical injury to Charles (the "2018 Incident"),2 and that Meier is legally responsible for Bartlett's alleged negligence under various legal theories (the "Original Petition").3 The Original Petition alleged that Charles, Autumn, and Bartlett are all "citizens of the State of Oklahoma," whereas Mesa is a Missouri corporation with its principal place of business in St. Louis County, Missouri. However, the Original Petition failed to allege where the 2018 Incident occurred, which drew a motion for more definite statement from Respondents for failure to allege jurisdictional prerequisites for a Missouri circuit court to exercise jurisdiction over Respondents. Before Respondents’ motion for more definite statement could be called and heard, Appellants filed their First Amended Petition on August 12, 2020, which was identical to the Original Petition except that it alleged the 2018 Incident occurred in the state of California.4
On August 14, 2020, Bartlett filed her motion to dismiss the claims against her in the First Amended Petition for lack of personal jurisdiction (the "Motion to Dismiss"). Specifically, Bartlett argued that the First Amended Petition alleged no basis for the circuit court to exercise personal jurisdiction over her under Missouri's long-arm statute, § 506.500,5 in that the 2018 Incident did not occur in Missouri and requiring her to defend this action in Missouri would violate the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
However, before the Motion to Dismiss could be called and heard, Appellants filed their motion for leave to file their Second Amended Petition, which was identical to the First Amended Petition in all material respects except that it added the following allegations that purportedly supported personal jurisdiction over Bartlett in Missouri: 6
In addition, in their written response in opposition to the Motion to Dismiss, Appellants argued that Bartlett was subject to personal jurisdiction under Missouri's long-arm statute because Bartlett: (1) transacted business in Missouri; (2) entered into a contract in Missouri; and (3) contracted to insure a person, property, or risk in Missouri, as set forth in sub-divisions (1), (2), and (5) of § 506.500.1. In further opposition to the Motion to Dismiss, Appellants also submitted copies of the following two documents received through discovery: (1) the Independent Contractor Agreement & Equipment Lease Agreement , by and between Bartlett and Mesa, whereby Bartlett agreed to provide certain "transportation services" to Mesa as an independent contractor (the "IC Agreement"); and (2) the Vehicle Lease Agreement , by and between Mesa Trucking, LLC7 and Bartlett, whereby Mesa Trucking leased to Bartlett the tractor and trailer involved in the 2018 Incident (the "Lease Agreement"). Appellants also submitted an affidavit whereby Charles attested, inter alia , that the tractor Bartlett was driving at the time of the 2018 Incident was marked with the insignia "Mesa, Inc., Ballwin MO," as well as displayed Mesa's identification numbers issued by the United States Department of Transportation ("USDOT") and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ("FMSCA").
On September 24, 2020, the circuit court granted Appellants’ motion for leave to file their Second Amended Petition. On that same date, the circuit court granted Bartlett's Motion to Dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction over her, specifically stating that this motion was taken as being filed in response to the Second Amended Petition; thus, the claims against Bartlett in the Second Amended Petition were dismissed without prejudice (the "Original Dismissal Order"). Therefore, the Original Dismissal Order resolved all claims asserted by Appellants against Bartlett in Counts I and III, leaving only Appellants’ claims against Mesa in Counts I, II, and III.
On October 5, 2020, Appellants filed their motion to reconsider the dismissal of their claims against Bartlett in the Second Amended Petition (the "Motion to Reconsider"), which also alternatively asked the court to designate the Original Dismissal Order as final for purposes of appeal pursuant to Rule 74.01(b).
On November 9, 2020, Appellants were granted leave to file their Third Amended Petition, which was substantially similar to the Second Amended Petition, but included additional allegations purporting to support Mesa's vicarious liability for Bartlett's actions in connection with the 2018 Incident.8
On January 11, 2021, the circuit court issued an Order and Judgment addressing the Motion to Reconsider (the "Amended Dismissal Order"), which amended the Original Dismissal Order to include a certification, pursuant to Rule 74.01(b), that there is no just reason to delay immediate appeal of the decision to grant Bartlett's Motion to Dismiss. The Amended Dismissal Order denied the Motion to Reconsider in all other respects.
On February 16, 2021, Appellants timely filed their notice of appeal with respect to the dismissal of their claims against Bartlett in the Second Amended Petition, and this appeal followed.
Following full briefing by the parties to this Court, this appeal was originally docketed for oral argument and submission on September 8, 2021. However, on September 2, 2021, pursuant to § 507.100, RSMo 2021, Autumn filed a Suggestion of Death with this Court, which stated that Charles had died on August 29, 2021. The Suggestion of Death further stated that Autumn had requested that the circuit court in this matter appoint her as Plaintiff Ad Litem, pursuant to § 537.021, "for the purpose of pursuing [Charles's] personal injury claims that survive his death," as well as stated that Autumn had filed a motion for leave to file a Fourth Amended Petition to assert those surviving claims. Accordingly, by Order dated September 3, 2021, this appeal was removed from this Court's docket of September 8, 2021, and was to be reset if and when a proper party was substituted for Charles.9
On September 22, 2021, Autumn filed her Motion for Substitution of Party and to Reset Oral Argument with this Court (the "Motion for Substitution"), which represented that on September 15, 2021, the circuit court below had granted her motion for leave to file a Fourth Amended Petition in this matter naming her as Plaintiff Ad Litem to pursue the personal injury claims that survive Charles's death, and also represented that a Fourth Amended Petition had been filed in the circuit court below on September 21, 2021, a copy of which was attached to the Motion for...
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