Luebbering Oil Co., Inc. v. Ozark Truck Plaza, Inc.

• Decision Date: 14 September 1994
• Docket Number: 19059,Nos. 19024,s. 19024
• Citation: Luebbering Oil Co., Inc. v. Ozark Truck Plaza, Inc., 883 S.W.2d 558 (Mo. App. 1994)
• Parties: LUEBBERING OIL CO., INC., Respondent-Appellant v. OZARK TRUCK PLAZA, INC., Missouri Valley Oil Co., Inc., Ellis Brown, John C. White, Jack Greig, and James Greig, Respondents, and John White and J. White Lumber Co., Inc., Appellants-Respondents.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 558

883 S.W.2d 558

LUEBBERING OIL CO., INC., Respondent-Appellant v. OZARK TRUCK PLAZA, INC., Missouri Valley Oil Co., Inc. Ellis Brown, John C. White, Jack Greig, and James Greig, Respondents and John White and J. White Lumber Co., Inc., Appellants-Respondents.

Nos. 19024, 19059.

Missouri Court of Appeals,

Southern District,

Division One.

Sept. 14, 1994.

Ronald K. Medin, Cook, Vetter, Doerhoff & Landwehr, Jefferson City, for appellant, Luebbering Oil Co.

Van B. Adams, California, for respondents.

PARRISH, Chief Judge.

Luebbering Oil Co., Inc., (plaintiff) filed an eleven-count petition against nine defendants: Ozark Truck Plaza, Inc. (Ozark); Missouri Valley Oil Co., Inc. (Missouri Valley); J. White Lumber Co., Inc. (White Lumber); Ellis Brown; Mae Brown; John C. White (John Christopher White); John White (John Charles White); Jack Greig; and James Greig. Prior to trial, plaintiff dismissed without prejudice as to defendant Mae Brown. After trial without a jury, the trial court, by docket entry, made findings of fact and conclusions of law and purported to enter judgment. ¹ Defendants John Charles White and White Lumber filed notice of appeal No. 19024. Plaintiff filed notice of appeal No. 19059. The appeals were consolidated by this court.

A jurisdictional prerequisite for appeal is that the trial court's judgment disposed of all issues and all parties involved. Kingston Electric, Inc. v. Wal-Mart Properties, Inc., 867 S.W.2d 712, 714 (Mo.App.1993). An appellate court may not usurp the functions of the trial court by undertaking to decide unresolved issues. Gurwit v. Kannatzer, 758 S.W.2d 486, 488 (Mo.App.1988). A judgment that does not dispose of all issues and all parties so as to leave nothing for future determination lacks finality. Bell v. M.A. Kabir Psychiatry, Inc., 828 S.W.2d 956, 957 (Mo.App.1992). If the parties fail to raise the question of a judgment's finality, the reviewing court must do so sua sponte. Kingston Electric, supra.

From its review of the record on appeal, this court concludes that no final judgment was rendered from which appeals will lie; that the appeals must be dismissed.

The claims set forth in the eleven counts of plaintiff's petition were directed against the following defendants:

Claim 2                                                     Defendants
                Count I for damages in the amount of $46,646.34 and interest    Ozark
                Count II for damages in the amount of $46,646.34 and interest   All defendants
                  and for punitive damages in the amount of $500,000
                Count III for damages in the amount of $46,646.34 and interest  All defendants
                  and for punitive damages in the amount of $500,000
                Count IV for damages in the amount of $62,176.16 and interest   All defendants
                Count V for damages in the amount of $62,176.16 and interest    All defendants
                  and for punitive damages in the amount of $1,000,000
                Count VI for damages in the amount of $62,176.16 and interest   All defendants
                  and for punitive damages in the amount of $1,000,000
                Count VII for damages in the amount of $62,176.16 and interest  Ellis Brown
                                                                                  John
                                                                                  Christopher
                                                                                  White; John
                                                                                  Charles White
                Count VIII for damages in the amount of $62,176.16 and          Ozark; Missouri
                  interest                                                        Valley; Ellis
                                                                                  Brown; John
                                                                                  Christopher
                                                                                  White; John
                                                                                  Charles
                                                                                  White; Jack
                                                                                  Greig; James
                                                                                  Greig
                Count IX for damages in the amount of $62,176.16 and interest   Ellis Brown
                                                                                  John
                                                                                  Christopher
                                                                                  White; John
                                                                                  Charles
                                                                                  White; James
                                                                                  Greig; Jack
                                                                                  Greig
                

Count X for damages in the amount of $37,770.77 and interest Jack Greig

Count XI for damages in the amount of $8,277.20 and interest James Greig

The "judgment" portion of the trial court's docket entry states an award of $46,646.34 "together with interest thereon at nine per cent since Dec. 21, 1986," to plaintiff from Ozark. That award is followed by a statement that defendant James Greig is liable "as statutory trustee to the extent his [sic] has assets of the OTP corporation [i.e., Ozark]." The statement does not articulate whether the trial court found that Greig possessed assets of Ozark or, if so, their value.

The entry makes a further award of $46,646.34 to plaintiff from defendant John Charles White and directs that John Charles White pay punitive damages in the amount of $30,000. It awards plaintiff $22,895 from defendants James Greig and Jack Greig.

The "judgment" makes no determination of plaintiff's claims against defendants Missouri Valley, White Lumber, Ellis Brown and John Christopher White. It does not disclose whether the award of $46,646.34 against Ozark and the award of $46,646.34 against John Charles White is a single joint award or two independent awards.

In addition to the "judgment" portion of the trial court's docket entry, there are five and one-half pages of single-spaced, typewritten findings of fact and conclusions of law. The findings and conclusions do not furnish the dispositions omitted in the proposed judgment. ³ They fail to articulate dispositions as to claims made against defendants Missouri Valley, White Lumber, Ellis Brown and John Christopher White and make no definitive determinations of Counts II, V, VI, VIII, X and XI.

In order to suffice as a final judgment, a docket entry must be complete enough to finally determine the rights of all parties with respect to all claims asserted. Corn v. Holloway, 814 S.W.2d 319, 320 (Mo.App.1991); see also Byrd v. Brown, 641 S.W.2d 163, 165 (Mo.App.1982); Byrd v. Brown, 613 S.W.2d 695, 698-99 (Mo.App.1981), and cases cited therein under n. 3. It must show "in intelligible language" the relief granted. ⁴ Corn v. Holloway, supra, citing Magee v. Mercantile-Commerce Bank & Trust Co., 339 Mo. 559,...