Corrigan v. Armstrong, Teasdale, Schlafly, Davis & Dicus, 59165

Citation824 S.W.2d 92
Decision Date07 January 1992
Docket NumberNo. 59165,59165
CourtCourt of Appeal of Missouri (US)
PartiesJune Marie CORRIGAN, Appellant, v. ARMSTRONG, TEASDALE, SCHLAFLY, DAVIS & DICUS, et al., Respondents.

John S. Sandberg, St. Louis, for appellant.

Robert S. Allen and Davis Lynn Coffman, St. Louis, for respondents.

SATZ, Judge.

This is an appeal from the trial court's dismissal of plaintiff's petition. Plaintiff, Mrs. June Marie Corrigan, is the widow of Mr. Thomas J. Corrigan, Sr., who, until his death, was a client of the defendant law firm, Armstrong, Teasdale, Schlafly, Davis & Dicus (Armstrong). In her petition, Mrs. Corrigan seeks the delivery by Armstrong of "all documents ... relating to" Armstrong's representation of Mr. Corrigan. The trial court granted Armstrong's motion to dismiss Mrs. Corrigan's petition for failure to state a claim. Mrs. Corrigan appeals. We affirm.

Mrs. Corrigan contends the documents in question are "tangible personal property" which Mr. Corrigan owned and which he bequeathed to her as part of his express bequest to her of "all of [his] tangible personal property, such as but not limited to jewelry, clothing, automobiles, furniture, furnishings, books and pictures...." (See Appendix I). In her petition, she seeks an order of delivery of the documents in two alternative counts: Count I, an action in replevin; and Count II, an action for mandatory injunction. Stripping her petition to its essentials, she alleges the following facts.

Armstrong represented Mr. Corrigan individually until his death in 1985. It also represented the various businesses he "operated" during his lifetime, and it continued to do so until 1990. Among the services it performed were "the handling of [Mr. Corrigan's] Estate ... the establishment of various trusts in reference to ... the Estate and the Corrigan Companies ('Corrigan Trusts'), and services in relation to the Corrigan Family finances and ownership of the Corrigan Companies,...." "As a result of ... [this] representation, Armstrong ... has acquired or produced various property, documents and files...."

The "Corrigan Family, the Corrigan Companies and the Corrigan Trusts terminated their relationship with Armstrong" in 1990. They have requested Armstrong to "return all files subject to [its] control" in its representation of any of them, and they and Mrs. Corrigan have executed the necessary formal releases. Armstrong "has returned certain documents to which [Mrs. Corrigan] is entitled ... [but] still refuses to turn over other documents, including documents relating to what [Armstrong] call[s] the 'personal files' of [Mr. Corrigan]." "[T]here is a danger [this] property ... will be lost, damaged or destroyed", and "any further delay in obtaining access to these legal files may cause irreparable damage to the interests of [Mrs. Corrigan], ..., particularly in regard to any potential malpractice claims which might only be ascertainable through a review of these files."

In Mr. Corrigan's will, attached to the petition, he named two of his children as his personal representatives to administer his Estate; his Estate has been probated and closed; and, although Mrs. Corrigan does not allege the documents she seeks were either inventoried or distributed as part of Mr. Corrigan's Estate, she alleges In each of her alternative prayers for relief, she requests an order directing Armstrong to deliver to her

she "has received the right to all [of his] tangible personal property" by specific bequest in his will.

all documents, including but not limited to, files, notes, correspondence and billings, whether generated or received by [Armstrong], and whether or not previously produced to [Mrs. Corrigan] relating to the legal representation by [Armstrong] of, or for the benefit of, [Mrs. Corrigan or Mr. Corrigan], including [Mr. Corrigan's] personal files.

Armstrong made a number of different arguments to the trial court in support of its motion to dismiss. The court found that if Mr. Corrigan had a "possessory interest in his legal files, he did not intend to exercise his interest and did not intend to pass possession of this interest to any third party." Any possessory interest in the legal files Mr. Corrigan may have had, the court said, "may have passed to the personal representative of his estate", but, this interest, "to the extent it existed, expired", the court said, "when the estate was closed." (See Appendix II) Accordingly, the court granted Armstrong's motion to dismiss.

We agree with the result reached and the action taken by the trial court, but we do so for different reasons. On appeal, our primary concern is the correctness of the result, not the route taken to reach it. Maryland Plaza Redevelopment v. Greenberg, 594 S.W.2d 284, 286 (Mo.App.1979).

Documents In Issue

In her petition, Mrs. Corrigan does not specifically describe the documents she now seeks. She simply contends she is entitled to all documents generated by Armstrong's representation of Mr. Corrigan individually and in his various business capacities; and, thus, her request for delivery, as written in her petition, is an undefined request which may range from the rough notes of Armstrong to finished, final documents, including memoranda of law, inter-office communications, letters and the like which may or may not be necessary to an understanding of the final documents.

But, both parties expressly agree that Armstrong has delivered "certain documents" to Mrs. Corrigan, and, although these documents are also not specifically described, both parties tacitly agree that these delivered documents included final documents, such as wills, trusts and contracts, which Mr. Corrigan, in one of his capacities during his lifetime, apparently requested to be prepared. Therefore, for our purposes here, we construe Mrs. Corrigan's petition as not requesting delivery of these final documents.

Mrs. Corrigan's Argument

Mrs. Corrigan contends that Mr. Corrigan, during his lifetime, acquired "ownership" of the documents in question. She bases this contention on two grounds: (1) Mr. Corrigan hired Armstrong to represent him, and, as a client, he acquired "ownership" of the results of Armstrong's labor in his behalf, and (2) Armstrong's ethical duty to Mr. Corrigan would have required it to surrender the documents in question to him if their attorney/client relationship had terminated during his lifetime, and this duty is based upon the unarticulated premise that a client owns all the documents generated in the client's behalf.

These documents, Mrs. Corrigan contends, are "tangible personal property", i.e., "property which may be felt or touched; such property as may be seen, weighed, measured, and estimated by the physical senses", Norris v. Norris, 731 S.W.2d 844, 845 (Mo. banc 1987), and, conversely, she contends, they are not "intangible personal property", i.e., "property ... which has no intrinsic and marketable value, but is merely the representative or evidence of value, such as certificates of stock, bonds, promissory notes and franchises." Id. Therefore, she contends, as "tangible personal property" owned by Mr. Corrigan, the documents were bequeathed to her by his specific bequest to her of "all of his tangible personal property."

The keystone of Mrs. Corrigan's contention is the existence of Mr. Corrigan's "ownership" of the documents in question. We disagree that this "ownership" existed. At best, Mr. Corrigan, during his lifetime, may have acquired a right of access to the information in the documents. This right is not "property" in the traditional sense, and, if it can be characterized as a "property" right, it would be an intangible property right, not a tangible one.

Case Law

Neither party has cited any case in which the court directly addressed the precise issue here. We have found none either. See, Marco v. Sachs, 109 N.Y.S.2d 224, 225 (N.Y.Sup.Ct.1951).

Ownership Based on Shop-Right Doctrine

Mrs. Corrigan derives Mr. Corrigan's "ownership" of the documents from an analogy with the shop-right doctrine. Missouri courts, she contends, have "recognized that where a person or company is retained to undertake services, the result of the labor belongs to the employer or client." An employer under the shop-doctrine acquires the right to use an invention created by an employee during the course and scope of his employment, she notes. Likewise, she contends, a client, who hires an "attorney to do legal work and create [a] file on his behalf", should acquire a right to the "fruits of [his attorney's] labor" and a correlative duty should be imposed on the attorney "to disclose to his employer, the client, the fruits of his labor."

This is a false analogy. But, even if it were true, any right created here by analogy would not be tangible personal property.

The classic definition of the shop-right doctrine and the limits of its reach are set out in United States v. Dubilier Condenser Corp., 289 U.S. 178, 53 S.Ct. 554, 77 L.Ed. 1114 (1933). The doctrine is simply an "application of equitable principles." Id. at 188, 53 S.Ct. at 558. The principles are applied when an employee creates an invention or trade secret, although not employed to do so. Id.

[W]here a servant [employee], during his hours of employment, working with his master's [employer's] materials and appliances, conceives and perfects an invention for which he obtains a patent, he must accord his master [employer] a non-exclusive right to practice the invention. Id; Dewey v. American Stair Glide Corp., 557 S.W.2d 643, 647 (Mo.App.1977).

Since the employee uses his employer's "time, facilities and materials to attain a concrete result", the employer "is in equity entitled to use that which embodies his own property and to duplicate it as often" as he likes. Id. 289 U.S. at 188-189, 53...

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