Lalumondier v. County Court of St. Francois County
| Decision Date | 25 September 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 41146,41146 |
| Parties | C. A. LALUMONDIER, Appellant, v. COUNTY COURT OF ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY, Missouri, et al., Respondents. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
V. Kenneth Rohrer, Roberts, Roberts & Rohrer, Farmington, for appellant.
Robert J. Blackwell, Flat River, for respondents.
Gary E. Stevenson, Farmington, for County Court and Treasurer.
Eric C. Harris, Flat River, for City of Leadwood and Village of Rivermines.
Gary Wagner, Farmington, for Farmington and Elvins.
Don E. Gillihan, Farmington, for Leadington.
John M. Williams, Flat River, for Desloge.
Plaintiff brought this declaratory judgment action seeking a definition of his rights to a sum of money which he claims he earned by performing services pursuant to private contracts with the defendants-municipal corporations. All defendants except one moved to dismiss on the grounds that plaintiff's petition failed to state a cause of action and the trial court sustained the motions. 1 This appeal followed.
Plaintiff had been the St. Francois County Assessor. Defendants herein are the County Court of St. Francois County, St. Francois County Treasurer and Auditor; and the seven municipalities located in St. Francois County: Farmington, Desloge, Elvins, Flat River, Leadwood, Leadington and Rivermines.
In the first three paragraphs of the petition for declaratory judgment, the plaintiff defines the legal statuses of the various defendants. Thereafter, in paragraphs four through six, plaintiff alleges that all of the municipal defendants are located within St. Francois County and that he was the former County Assessor of St. Francois County. In paragraph seven, the plaintiff states: ". . . for the years 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975, Plaintiff pursuant to private contracts and solicitations made by . . . municipal corporation Defendants, did prepare said Defendants' City Tax Books pursuant to said agreements and solicitations . . . for the years stated." Paragraph 8 reads:
That the preparation of said City Books was not a duty of the County Assessor . . . and . . . that your Plaintiff was entitled to compensation . . . for performing said service. . . . Further, . . . said work was performed upon Plaintiff's own time, not during usual business hours, that he personally employed employees to work on said books, and that no County facilities or funds were used in the preparation of said books.
In paragraph nine, plaintiff alleges that after deducting actual expenses, his work for the five year period was worth $11,145.00. Paragraphs ten and eleven read:
10. That thereafter continuous demands and claims have been made to the proceeds of said sums received by your Plaintiff for the aforesaid described services and a judiciable (sic) controversy has arisen among the parties as to the rightful ownership of said funds and further, said Defendant County Court and said Defendant municipal corporations have been making various and sundry claims to entitlement to said funds, the exact nature of which Plaintiff does not know.
11. That in an effort to end said demands and claims being pressed upon your Plaintiff, Plaintiff tendered the sum of $11,145.00 to the Treasurer of St. Francois County, Missouri as stakeholder of said sum until legal action could be initiated and this controversy decided.
In the prayer, plaintiff requests: "the Court . . . decide . . . and determine that pursuant to the laws and statutes . . . existing in 1971 through 1975 and . . . contracts entered into by . . . the parties that Plaintiff is entitled to the sum ($11,145.00) . . . and to declare that no other party herein has any claim to said funds. . . ."
In reviewing the sufficiency of a petition to state a claim for declaratory relief, we "must construe the petition favorably to the plaintiff and accept as true all facts alleged therein." Vorbeck v. McNeal, 560 S.W.2d 245, 249 (Mo.App.1977). Further, plaintiff must be accorded all favorable inferences which can be deduced from the petition. Id. The test is not whether plaintiff is entitled to the relief requested in the prayer, but whether he is entitled to a declaration of rights or status on the facts pleaded. Harris v. State Bank and Trust Company, 484 S.W.2d 177, 178 (Mo.1972). The petition must allege facts which show a subsisting justiciable controversy between the parties as to their respective rights and duties. Furthermore, relief by way of a judgment conclusive in character and determinative of the issues involved must be appropriate. Plaintiff must also...
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...case, the decree will be sustained if the result is correct even if based upon an erroneous finding, Lalumondier v. County Court of St. Francois County, 588 S.W.2d 197 (Mo.App.1979) and even if the decree contained erroneous legal or factual reasons for the result reached. Kenilworth Ins. C......
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