Crumbaker v. Zadow
| Decision Date | 07 December 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. ED 84398.,ED 84398. |
| Citation | 151 S.W.3d 94 |
| Parties | Judy CRUMBAKER, Appellant, v. Albert ZADOW and The American Insurance Company, Respondents. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Susan K. Roach, Shaun M. Falvey (co-counsel), Clayton, MO, for appellant.
Richard S. Bender, David G. Bender (co-counsel), Clayton, MO, for respondents.
Judy Crumbaker appeals the judgment dismissing her claims for suit on a notary bond and infliction of emotional distress and denying her motion for leave to amend the petition. We reverse and remand.
Crumbaker filed a petition against Albert Zadow, a notary public, and his surety, The American Insurance Company (collectively "Zadow"), alleging that Zadow falsely certified that several quitclaim deeds had been executed in person. The deeds transferred several pieces of real estate from Leslie Rees ("the grantor") to his former wife, Eleanor Finneran ("the grantee"). The grantor had since died, and Crumbaker was an heir to his estate. Crumbaker also alleged that Zadow's conduct caused her emotional distress.
Zadow moved to dismiss the petition, arguing that (1) Crumbaker lacked standing because she had no interest in the properties transferred by the deeds, some of which already had been awarded to the grantee in a decree dissolving her marriage to the grantor and (2) the suit could not proceed without the grantee because she was a necessary and indispensable party who could not be joined in the suit by virtue of a release agreement. At the trial court's request, the parties filed copies of the dissolution decree and the release. Crumbaker also sought leave to amend the petition to join the grantee as an additional defendant. Without explanation, the court granted Zadow's motion to dismiss and denied Crumbaker's motion to amend.
We will affirm this judgment if it can be sustained on any ground alleged in the motion to dismiss. Farm Bureau Town and Country Insurance Company of Missouri v. Angoff, 909 S.W.2d 348, 351 (Mo. banc 1995). The judgment cannot be sustained on the standing ground, and proper procedure was not followed for it to have been sustained on the necessary and indispensable party ground. Thus, we must reverse and remand.
"Reduced to its essence, standing roughly means that the parties seeking relief must have some personal interest at stake in the dispute, even if that interest is attenuated, slight or remote." Ste. Genevieve School District R II v. Board of Aldermen of City of Ste. Genevieve, 66 S.W.3d 6, 10 (Mo. banc 2002). This "personal stake" is shown by alleging a threatened or actual injury resulting from the challenged action. Rodriguez v. Suzuki Motor Corp., 996 S.W.2d 47, 53 (Mo. banc 1999); City of St. Louis v. K & K Investments, Inc., 21 S.W.3d 891, 895 (Mo.App. E.D.2000). We determine standing as a matter of law based on the petition and any other non-contested facts accepted as true by the parties at the time of the motion to dismiss. Home Builders Association of Greater St. Louis, Inc. v. City of Wildwood, 32 S.W.3d 612, 614 (Mo.App. E.D.2000).
According to the petition, Zadow falsely certified that the deeds had been executed in his presence. The deeds were attached to and incorporated into the petition; they quitclaimed two properties on Monroe street, one on Marvin street and another on Burns street from the grantor and grantee, as husband and wife, to the grantee solely. It appears to have been uncontested at the time of the motion that the grantor had died and that Crumbaker was an heir to his estate. Also before the trial court at time of motion were (1) the dissolution decree, in which the court awarded the Monroe properties to the grantor and the Marvin property to the grantee, and (2) an agreement between the grantee, the grantor's estate, Crumbaker and the estate's other personal representative, in which the grantee agreed to convey the Marvin property to the estate and which also contained the following release:
In consideration of the transfers set forth hereinabove, the parties hereto, for themselves, their representatives, their personal representatives, their heirs, officers, directors, employees, successors and assigns, their spouses, children and heirs as the case may be, do hereby, for themselves and all others, fully and forever remise, release and discharge the other of and from any and all causes of action of any type whatsoever, from the beginning of the world to the date of the execution of this Agreement, it being the intent and desire of the parties to fully and forever discharge each other of and from any and all causes of action of any type whatsoever.
Zadow argues that Crumbaker has no interest in the Monroe properties because title thereto had already transferred to the grantee by way of the dissolution decree and, therefore, those properties were not part of the grantor's estate regardless of the falsely notarized deed. Moreover, Zadow contends, Crumbaker has no standing to bring claims relating to any of these properties by virtue of the release. We disagree.
First, the dissolution decree did not automatically convey title. If the proceedings are conducted properly and the language of the decree is sufficient, then title to real property may be conveyed in a dissolution decree without further action by the parties. DeWitt v. American Family Insurance Co., 667 S.W.2d 700, 706 (Mo. banc 1984). But a decree that "merely orders the parties to do certain acts and does not automatically convey the property by its plain language" is insufficient to effectuate a conveyance without an affirmative act by the parties. Id. Here, the decree plainly and expressly required the parties to "execute the needed papers to affect such disposition" of property and to provide legal descriptions. Thus, the grantor's interest in the Monroe properties remained unchanged by the issuance of the dissolution decree. Crumbaker, as his heir, has a personal stake in the validity of the deeds transferring those properties out of the grantor's estate. Zadow does not dispute that the Marvin and Burns properties would have been part of the grantor's estate but for the deeds. Thus, Crumbaker has a similar personal stake in the validity of those deeds.
Second, the release does not nullify...
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