Concannon v. Hanley Development Corp.

• Decision Date: 18 April 1989
• Docket Number: No. 55075,55075
• Citation: 769 S.W.2d 183
• Parties: Mary H. CONCANNON, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. HANLEY DEVELOPMENT CORP., et al., Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 183

769 S.W.2d 183

Mary H. CONCANNON, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. HANLEY DEVELOPMENT CORP., et al., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 55075.

Missouri Court of Appeals,

Eastern District,

Division Two.

April 18, 1989.

William J. Travis, St. Louis, Anthony F. Vaiana, Clayton, Melinda Ann Friedman, Brent Winfield Baldwin, St. Louis, for defendants-appellants.

Randy R. Mariani, St. Louis, for plaintiff-respondent.

GARY M. GAERTNER, Judge.

In this consolidated appeal, appellants, Hanley Condominium Association, Hanley Development Corporation and Fox & Cole Consulting Engineers, appeal the trial court's order in favor of respondent, Mary H. Concannon. The trial court awarded respondent $6,000 in compensatory damages and also injunctive relief, to be detailed later in this opinion, in respondent's action against appellants wherein she challenged the method utilized by appellants to dispose of surface water runoff from a condominium complex built near her house. On appeal, appellants raise essentially three issues. Appellants argue there was no substantial evidence they violated Missouri's modified common enemy doctrine regulating the disposition of surface water runoff. As well, appellant Fox & Cole Consulting Engineers (Fox & Cole) maintains the grant of injunctive relief was improper. Finally, appellant Hanley Development Corporation asserts it should not have to share certain costs with Fox & Cole relating to the injunctive relief. We affirm in part and remand in part.

The evidence shows that respondent purchased her house in University City, Missouri in 1970. During the period between 1970 and 1979 she experienced no water problems; there was no ponding, flooding or standing water in her yard after rainfalls and water did not seep into her basement. In 1979, Hanley Development Corporation began to develop a parcel of property southeast of respondent's house. The two properties do not share a common boundary; however the properties do meet at their corners. Respondent's property now receives approximately two to three times more water in volume and at an increased rate than before the development. A considerable portion of her entire backyard is covered by water for several days after every rainfall of any significance. As a result of the recurring ponding and flooding, respondent has had numerous shrubs and several large trees die; she has experienced considerable soil erosion and an increase in the number of mosquitoes present in her backyard. As well, water now seeps into her basement.

Prior to the development of the condominiums, surface water from the property on which they were built generally drained across that property in a thin, diffused sheet flow. The runoff would flow across the entire width of the property and onto property other than respondent's property. Respondent specifically testified that she never saw water flowing across her property prior to the development. In developing the condominiums Hanley Development Corporation retained the services of Fox & Cole. In conjunction with Fox & Cole, the developers altered the natural topography of the site for the planned condominiums so as to stop the sheet flow of water across the property; the land was regraded, and curbs and embankments were constructed in order to assure that all the surface runoff is channelled into a detention basin in the corner of the property touching respondent's property. After being collected in the detention basin, the water is then discharged in a concentrated stream through an eight inch pipe directly onto respondent's property, which property is predominately flat and contains no natural drainway through it.

Respondent sued Hanley Development Corporation and Hanley Condominium Association, each of which then impleaded Fox & Cole as a third party defendant. The trial court, sitting without a jury, on November 27, 1987, awarded respondent $6,000 in damages, to be paid entirely by third party defendant Fox & Cole. The court further ordered the parties to mutually select an engineering firm in order to evaluate the disposal of surface water from the condominium project. The order provided that the court would "retain jurisdiction ... for the purpose of accepting or rejecting the report of the engineering firm selected by the parties and to make further orders as may be necessary and proper to provide for the disposal of the surface water from the Hanley Condominium project." Lenz Engineering, Inc. was selected by the parties and submitted two reports to the trial court. On June 14, 1988, the court ordered appellants to "grade the Concannon backyard so as to lessen the possibilities of ponding." The court further held that it was retaining jurisdiction "for a period of six (6) months to and including December 15, 1988, after which time the court will review the situation with the parties to determine any further orders."

Before reviewing the merits of this case, we must determine whether the trial court's order is final such that it may be appealed. A judgment is final and appealable if it disposes of all the parties and all the issues in the case and leaves nothing for future determination. William v. Walker, 734 S.W.2d 283, 286 (Mo.App., E.D.1987). However, this rule is tempered by the instruction that what is or is not a final judgment "depends upon the circumstances of each individual case." Clasen v. Moore Brothers Realty Co., 413 S.W.2d 592, 597 (Mo.App., E.D.1967). So long as the judgment settles the equities and duties of the parties it is nonetheless final because there remains the necessity for some future action or direction by the court in execution of the judgment. Id.; See also Thompson v. Hodge, 348 S.W.2d 11, 13 (Mo.App., S.D.1961). Thus, the possibility of a conditional, future order does not prevent the judgment from being deemed final. In Clasen, the trial court issued a declaratory judgment as to the parties' rights under a lease, and retained jurisdiction to order a possible accounting in the event the tenant should fail to pay the rent owed. In Thompson, the court set forth the following standard for determining the finality of judgments:

[I]f ... the court fully determines the issues in accordance with the pleadings, even though there may be incidental or supplementary issues yet to be determined in order to obtain full enforcement, and if the judgment purports to operate in praesenti to the extent of determination of the issues raised by the pleadings, then the judgment should be considered as "final" to the extent of adjudging the merits....

Id. at 14. We do not believe that new Rule 74.01 alters the above mode of analysis as that rule is addressed to the situation where not all the claims, rights and liabilities of the parties have been adjudicated. In the present case, the claims, rights and liabilities of all the parties have been adjudicated. For, respondent petitioned for both damages at law and equitable relief, an injunction. The original order disposes of the damages claim, as well as the claim against the third party defendant. The second order, enjoining appellants to grade respondent's property, adjudicates respondent's request for equitable relief. A contrary result, mandating that whenever an injunction is issued the trial court would be permitted to retain jurisdiction for the duration of the injunctive period, would leave the trial court's order immune from appellate review. Further, the judgment at issue in the case before us specifically states that the trial court is retaining jurisdiction to and including December 15, 1988, and that date has now passed. We note that all the parties to this action seek a review of the merits.

In considering the merits, we must initially recognize the appropriate standard of review. The trial court's judgment will be sustained if there is substantial evidence to support it, it is not against the weight of the evidence, and it neither erroneously declares or applies the law. Wojtkowski v. Shelter Insurance Companies, 702 S.W.2d 74, 76 (Mo. banc 1985). The judgment will be affirmed unless there is no reasonable theory on which to sustain it. Illinois State Bank v. Yates, 678 S.W.2d 819, 823 (Mo.App., E.D.1984). And, where as in the case before this court, no findings of fact were requested of or made by the trial court, we will deem all facts in accordance with the results reached, accepting as true all evidence and permissible inferences favorable to the trial court. Stratton v. Stratton, 694 S.W.2d 510, 512 (Mo.App.,...