Coon v. American Compressed Steel

• Decision Date: 30 January 2004
• Docket Number: No. WD 62289.,WD 62289.
• Citation: 133 S.W.3d 75
• Parties: Deric Lee COON, a Minor by and through his Next Friend, Christopher Coon, Respondent, v. AMERICAN COMPRESSED STEEL and William Copeland, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

133 S.W.3d 75

Deric Lee COON, a Minor by and through his Next Friend, Christopher Coon, Respondent, v. AMERICAN COMPRESSED STEEL and William Copeland, Appellant.

No. WD 62289.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District.

January 30, 2004.

Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer to Supreme Court Denied March 30, 2004.

Application for Transfer Denied May 25, 2004.

Tracy Marie Vetter, Kansas City, for appellant.

Anita Porte Robb, Kansas City, for respondent.

Before JAMES M. SMART, JR., P.J., ROBERT G. ULRICH, and LISA WHITE HARDWICK, JJ.

JAMES M. SMART, JR., Judge.

American Compressed Steel, Inc. and William Copeland appeal the denial of their motion to intervene in the family court case in which the court decreed the equitable adoption of Deric Lee Coon ("Deric") by decedent, Patricia Walker. We affirm the denial of intervention.

Background

Deric Coon is the six-year-old son of Christopher Coon. Deric's mother died when Deric was quite young. Christopher Coon subsequently invited Patricia Walker to live with him and Deric. Testimony was presented in the family court case to the effect that Patricia Walker was like a mother to Deric, and intended eventually to marry Christopher and to adopt Deric. Several years after Patricia moved in with Christopher and Deric, Patricia was killed while driving on an interstate highway when a steel counterweight allegedly fell out of a truck and struck her, causing fatal injuries.

Patricia Walker's father, Stephen Walker, brought a wrongful death action in Jackson County Circuit Court against the owner of the truck, American Compressed Steel, and the truck driver, William Copeland.

After Stephen Walker's wrongful death action was filed, Deric Coon filed a petition for "equitable adoption" in the Family Court Division of the Jackson County Circuit Court. The petition sought to have Deric posthumously "adopted" by the decedent so Deric could prosecute the wrongful death action as a plaintiff.¹ Deric's paternal grandparents and Stephen Walker were given notice of the proceeding. Following an evidentiary hearing, the family court entered a decree declaring Deric to be, "for all legal intents and purposes" the child of the decedent, Patricia Walker. The decree recites that Deric Coon is found to have been equitably adopted by the deceased "for all purposes, legal and equitable." Deric subsequently brought to the circuit court his "Verified Order in Recognition of Legal Adoption," which recites that he is "lawfully entitled to bring a wrongful death action relating to the death of his mother, Patricia Walker." The circuit court has, in accordance with this verified order, allowed Deric to become the plaintiff in the wrongful death action. Stephen Walker, who suffers from mental illness, has withdrawn from active participation and has permitted Deric to prosecute the action as the named plaintiff. Deric now, in his amended pleadings, alleges that he is the son of Patricia Walker.

American Compressed Steel and Copeland, and the trial court in the death case, were unaware of the adoption proceeding until Deric sought to import the decree to the wrongful death action. Defendants contended in the circuit court that they are not bound by the decree to acknowledge a legal parent-child relationship between Patricia and Deric. The defendants also filed a motion in the family court to "intervene out of time" in order to move to set aside the adoption decree. They sought intervention as a matter of right pursuant to Rule 52.12. The family court denied the motion. American Compressed Steel and Copeland appeal the denial by the family court of their motion to intervene and set aside the adoption decree.

Motion to Dismiss

Deric has moved to dismiss this appeal, arguing the Appellants lack standing to challenge the judgment because they were not within the category of persons specified as entitled to notice and joinder under the procedures set forth in Chapter 453, RSMo 2000. As to that assertion, it should be noted that Chapter 453 authorizes and regulates adoptions. However, for reasons discussed more fully below, the decree in this case is not an adoption decree. See, e.g., Goldberg v. Robertson, 615 S.W.2d 59, 62 (Mo. banc 1981). Chapter 453, the only statutory authority for adoption, does not contemplate or provide for "equitable adoption." Thus, the fact that the statutory procedures in that chapter do not require joinder of appellants is somewhat beside the point.

The Respondents also move to dismiss the appeal on the ground that Appellants are not "aggrieved parties" under section 512.020. Respondents confuse the issue of whether a party is aggrieved by a judgment in a case with the issue of whether that party is aggrieved by the denial of intervention. The law is clear that even if they are not aggrieved as to the judgment itself, they may still be aggrieved as to the denial of intervention.

The denial of a motion to intervene under Rule 52.12(a) is a final judgment from which there is a right of appeal. State ex rel. Reser v. Martin, 576 S.W.2d 289, 291 (Mo. banc 1978). Both the Missouri and U.S. Supreme Courts have recognized that a movant is directly aggrieved by the denial of a non-permissive motion to intervene because there is "no other way in which he can better assert the particular interest which warrants intervention." Id. at 290. When a party claims intervention as a matter of right, they are asserting that they may be a legally bound or prejudiced by any judgment entered in the case. Id. Because the movant cannot challenge the judgment unless he is allowed to intervene, "the order denying intervention has the degree of definitiveness which supports appeal therefrom." Id. at 290-91. Even if the movant lacks standing to object to the judgment on the merits, his right of appeal rises from the denial of intervention motion. Ring v. Metro. St. Louis Sewer Dist., 41 S.W.3d 487, 491 (Mo.App. E.D.2000). Appellants thus have standing to appeal the ruling denying their claim of legal rights under Rule 52.12(a). Deric's motion to dismiss the appeal is denied.

Issues on Appeal

In their first point, Appellants argue the family court erroneously denied the motion to intervene as a matter of right because the disposition of the family court proceeding, they fear, may impair or impede their ability to protect their corresponding financial interest in the wrongful death action. They say they wish to intervene in order to be allowed to move to set aside the purported equitable adoption decree. They are concerned because Respondent Coon asserts that the decree is an adoption decree and forecloses them from challenging whether Deric Coon is to be regarded as the son of the deceased.

The question under Rule 52.12(a), which deals with intervention as of right, is whether appellants have such a direct and substantial interest in the result of the family court proceeding that they were entitled to intervene. See Estate of Langhorn v. Laws, 905 S.W.2d 908 (Mo.App. 1995). The appellants cite In re Adoption of H.M.C., 11 S.W.3d 81, 91 (Mo.App.2000), in which we stated that an "interested party" for the purpose of granting intervention as a matter of right is one that is concerned in the outcome or result thereof because it has a legal right that will be directly affected thereby or a legal liability that will be directly enlarged or diminished by the judgment or decree in such action. Appellants ignore the use of the word "directly" in the applicable authority. The question is whether there is any direct effect on the rights or liabilities of appellants in the family court proceeding. See Lodigensky v. American States Preferred Ins. Co., 898 S.W.2d 661, 666 (Mo.App. 1995) (because appellant would not be bound by the result in the pending suit, appellant had no interest which would justify intervention).

The Judgment

Respondent Coon refers in his brief to the decree as an equitable adoption decree.² The decree and the verified order in this case are written as though an equitable adoption is merely one form of adoption whereby the relationship of parent and child is established. It contains boilerplate language borrowed from adoption proceedings. The verified order recites that the decree is one of "legal" adoption. The decree itself, although stating it is a decree of equitable adoption, contains language asserting that Deric Coon is the child of the deceased "for all legal intents and purposes" (emphasis added). Thus, we commence this matter in the midst of a good deal of confusion about the nature of equitable adoption.

Adoption

Adoption is purely a creature of statute. See Menees v. Cowgill, 359 Mo. 697, 223 S.W.2d 412, 415 (1949), cert. denied, 338 U.S. 949, 70 S.Ct. 488, 94 L.Ed. 585 (1950). There was no right of adoption under the common law of England. 2 AM.JUR.2d, Adoption, § 7 (1994). The universal rule in all states is that the power to create the relationship of parent and child between persons not so related exists only by virtue of statutory authority. Id. There is no statutory authority for any adoption other than Chapter 453. Engel v. Kenner, 926 S.W.2d 472 (Mo.App.1996).

Equitable Adoption

However, notwithstanding that an adoption can be achieved only pursuant to statute, Missouri has recognized "equitable adoption" as a judicial remedy in equity. Drake v. Drake, 328 Mo. 966, 43 S.W.2d 556, 558 (banc 1931); Menees, 223 S.W.2d at 415; Goldberg v. Robertson, 615 S.W.2d 59, 62 (Mo. banc 1981). A court of equity may, where justice requires, decree a person to have rights of an adopted child for purposes of inheritance. Drake, 43 S.W.2d at 558. Equitable adoption, also called "adoption by estoppel," is not an adoption. It does not create the legal relationship of parent and child. Goldberg, 615 S.W.2d at 62. It arose out of contract enforcement. Drake, 43 S.W.2d at 558. The purpose of the doctrine of equitable adoption was to avoid unjust results from the application of...