Humane Soc'y of U.S. v. State

• Decision Date: 13 August 2013
• Docket Number: No. SC 92851.,SC 92851.
• Citation: 405 S.W.3d 532
• Parties: The HUMANE SOCIETY OF the UNITED STATES, Dogwood Animal Shelter, Inc., and Stray Rescue of St. Louis, Inc., Appellants, v. STATE of Missouri and Missouri Department of Agriculture, Respondents.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

405 S.W.3d 532

The HUMANE SOCIETY OF the UNITED STATES, Dogwood Animal Shelter, Inc., and Stray Rescue of St. Louis, Inc., Appellants,

v.STATE of Missouri and Missouri Department of Agriculture, Respondents.

No. SC 92851.

Supreme Court of Missouri, En Banc.

Aug. 13, 2013.

David Cosgrove and Jurt J. Schafers of the Cosgrove Law Group LLC, St. Louis, for the Animal Shelters.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, Solicitor General James R. Layton and Jessica Blome of the attorney general's office in Jefferson City, for The State.

Michelle Monhan and Emery Reusch of St. Louis, for Amicus Parties.

PATRICIA BRECKENRIDGE, Judge.

The Humane Society of the United States, Dogwood Animal Shelter, and Stray Rescue of St. Louis, Inc., appeal a judgment against them in their declaratory judgment action against the State of Missouri and the Missouri Department of Agriculture.¹ The Humane Society's petition sought a declaration that Senate Bill 795 (2010), repealing and reenacting section 273.327, violated the prohibition in article III, section 21 of the Missouri Constitution that a bill cannot be amended to change its original purpose. The trial court granted summary judgment for the defendants based on its finding that the Humane Society's cause of action was moot because the General Assembly repealed and reenacted section 273.327 in a subsequent legislative session, curing any procedural defects in SB795 (2010)'s passage.

The Humane Society claims on appeal that the trial court erred in finding its cause of action is moot, relying on C.C. Dillon v. City of Eureka, 12 S.W.3d 322 (Mo. banc 2000), because C.C. Dillon and the trial court's ruling are contrary to this Court's precedent that laws remain in force continuously throughout repeal and reenactment. Alternatively, it urges this Court to reexamine its holding in C.C. Dillon because allowing the repeal and reenactment of a statute to cure procedural defects in the statute's enactment thwarts the prohibition against changing the original purpose of a bill, found in article III, section 21 of the Missouri Constitution. This Court has jurisdiction of the Humane Society's challenge to the constitutional validity of section 273.327, RSMo Supp.2010. Mo. Const. art. V, sec. 3. Because any constitutional defect SB795 (2010) imparted to section 273.327 was remedied by the General Assembly's subsequent repeal and reenactment of that section, the judgment is affirmed.

Factual and Procedural Background

Section 273.327 was first enacted in 1992. The 1992 version of section 273.327 required persons engaged in commercial animal care to obtain a license and established an annual licensing fee of $105 that could be amended at the discretion of the Missouri agriculture department's director, as well as per-capita fees. Section 273.327, RSMo Supp.1992. It also exempted “[p]ounds, dog pounds, and animal shelters” from paying those fees. Id.

On January 19, 2010, Senate Bill 795 (2010) was introduced and read for the first time in the Missouri Senate with the title “AN ACT to repeal section 319.306, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to blasting safety, with a penalty provision.” As introduced, SB795 (2010) made minor, non-substantive modifications to the language of section 319.306 and added an additional exception to the required blaster's license for “[i]ndividuals using explosive materials along with a well screen cleaning device for the purpose of unblocking clogged screens of agricultural irrigation wells....” Section 319.306.18(15).

On May 14, 2010, the 95th General Assembly passed SB795 (2010), with the new title: “AN ACT to repeal sections 196.316, 266.355, 270.260, 270.400, 273.327, 273.329, 274.180, 281.260, 311.550, 319.306, 319.321, 393.1025, and 393.1030, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof thirty new sections relating to animals and agriculture, with penalty provisions, and an emergency clause for a certain section.” The repealed and newly enacted statutes included section 273.327. In the reenacted version of section 273.327, animal shelters were eliminated from the entities exempt from the payment of fees. On July 9, 2010, Governor Jeremiah W. Nixon signed SB795 (2010) into law.

On January 24, 2011, Senate Bill 161 (2011) was introduced. SB161 (2011) was passed by the 96th General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Nixon on April 27, 2011, with an emergency clause applicable to section 273.327. As passed, SB161 (2011) repealed and reenacted section 273.327. As reenacted, the maximum license fee imposed by section 273.327 was raised from $500 annually to $2,500 annually.

On May 13, 2011, the Humane Society filed a petition for declaratory judgment and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief in the Cole County circuit court. The petition sought a declaration that the amended version of section 273.327, enacted in SB795 (2010) as passed by the 95th General Assembly on May 14, 2010, was unconstitutional and void. Specifically, the Human Society claimed that SB795 (2010) was enacted in violation of article III, section 21 of the Missouri Constitution because SB795 (2010) was amended during its passage to change its original purpose.

The Humane Society and the state subsequently filed cross motions for summary judgment. In its motion for summary judgment, the state sought a determination that the Humane Society's claim was moot and asked that its petition be dismissed. The trial court denied the Humane Society's motion and sustained the state's motion for summary judgment on the ground that the Humane Society's cause of action was moot as a result of the General Assembly's repeal and reenactment of section 273.327 in SB161 (2011), citing C.C. Dillon Co. v. City of Eureka, 12 S.W.3d 322, 325 (Mo. banc 2000).

The Humane Society appeals. It claims that the trial court erred in ruling that its cause of action regarding SB795 (2010) is moot because the repeal and reenactment of section 273.327 through SB161 (2011) did not eliminate existing constitutional defects, and it requests that this Court reexamine its holding in C.C. Dillon. It further asserts that this Court should grant it relief on the merits of its claim that SB795 (2010), as amended and enacted, unconstitutionally conflicts with the bill's original purpose.

Standard of Review

This Court's review of summary judgment is de novo. ITT Commercial Fin. Corp. v. Mid–Am Marine Supply Corp., 854 S.W.2d 371, 376 (Mo. banc 1993). “Facts set forth by affidavit or otherwise in support of a party's motion are taken as true unless contradicted by the non-moving party's response to the summary judgment motion.” Id. A movant for summary judgment is entitled to summary judgment if the movant can demonstrate, on the basis of facts as to which there is no genuine dispute, a right to judgment as a matter of law. Id. at 377. A defending party can demonstrate entitlement to summary judgment by showing (1) facts negating any of the claimant's necessary elements; (2) the claimant, after an adequate period of discovery, has been unable, and will not be able, to produce evidence sufficient to allow the trier of fact to find the existence of any one of the claimant's elements; or (3) there is no genuine dispute of the existence of facts required to support the defending party's properly pleaded affirmative defense. Id. at 381.

The standard for determining if a cause of action is moot is set out in C.C. Dillon:

A cause of action is moot when the question presented for decision seeks a judgment upon some matter which, if the judgment was rendered, would not have any practical effect upon any then existing controversy. When an event occurs which renders a decision unnecessary, the appeal will be dismissed. And where an enactment supersedes the statute on which the litigants rely to define their rights, the appeal no longer represents an actual controversy, and the case will be dismissed as moot.

12 S.W.3d at 325 (quoting Bank of Washington v. McAuliffe, 676 S.W.2d 483, 487 (Mo. banc 1984)).

Humane Society's Cause of Action is Moot

The Humane Society's first claim on appeal is that the trial court erred in ruling that its cause of action is moot. The Humane Society asserts that the SB795 (2010) violates the prohibition in article III, section 21 of the Missouri Constitution that a bill shall not be amended in its passage to change its original purpose.² It claims that the constitutional invalidity of section 273.327, enacted in SB795 (2010), should not have been rendered moot by the General Assembly's subsequent repeal and reenactment of section 273.327 in SB161 (2011). It argues that the unconstitutional removal of the animal shelter fee exemption by SB795 (2010) was undetectably embedded in the reinstated text of SB161 (2011) and, as a result, the legislature and public were unaware of the exemption's removal and the exemption was not brought before the legislature for consideration. Therefore, it argues that SB161 (2011) is merely a continuation of the constitutional deficiencies contained in SB795 (2010).

The Humane Society recognizes that its position is contrary to this Court's holding in C.C. Dillon, cited by the trial court to determine the case was moot. 12 S.W.3d 322. In that case, C.C. Dillon Co. sued the city of Eureka after the city denied C.C. Dillon's billboard permit application. C.C. Dillon, 12 S.W.3d 322, 325. The city's denial was based on an ordinance passed pursuant to section 71.288, RSMo Supp.1999, which allowed cities and counties to impose billboard regulations more restrictive than those in the Missouri Billboards Act, sections 226.500 to 226.600, RSMo 1994. Id. at 324. C.C. Dillon claimed section 71.288 was void because legislative amendments to Senate Bill 831 (1998), establishing and amending section 71.288, violated the Missouri Constitution's ban on amending bills to conflict with their original purpose. Id.

This Court held that C.C. Dillon's challenge to SB831 (1998)...