St. Louis County v. Berck

• Decision Date: 12 October 2010
• Docket Number: No. ED 93958.,ED 93958.
• Citation: 322 S.W.3d 622
• Parties: ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Missouri, Respondent, v. Richard F. BERCK, and All American Painting, L.L.C., Appellants.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

322 S.W.3d 622

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Missouri, Respondent,

v.Richard F. BERCK, and All American Painting, L.L.C., Appellants.

No. ED 93958.

Missouri Court of Appeals,Eastern District,Division Four.

Oct. 12, 2010.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED.

Robert Denlow, Paul G. Henry, Denlow and Henry, St. Louis, MO, for Appellants.

Paul J. Puricelli, Julie L. Brothers, Stone, Leyton & Gershman, St. Louis, MO, for Respondent.

KURT S. ODENWALD, Presiding Judge.

Introduction

Richard F. Berck and All American Painting (hereafter collectively referred to as Berck) appeal from the trial court's Order and Judgment dismissing the condemnation petition filed by St. Louis County (County) for lack of jurisdiction. Berck asserts that County's motion to dismiss constituted an abandonment of the condemnation action under Section 523.040, RSMo 2000, ¹ and that he is entitled to seek certain benefits, including interest, under the condemnation statutes as a consequence of that abandonment. Berck argues that the trial court erred when it failed to treat County's motion to dismiss as abandonment, and instead dismissed the condemnation action for lack of jurisdiction. Because the trial court retained jurisdiction over the condemnation action after County abandoned the action by filing its motion to dismiss, we reverse the trial court's judgment of dismissal and remand this matter to the trial court for a determination of Berck's rights to an award of interest under the condemnation statutes.

Factual Background

On July 13, 2004, the St. Louis County Council (the County Council) passed Ordinance Nos. 21,949 and 21,950 approving a Tax Increment Financing redevelopment plan and project known as Northpark. County filed a Petition in Condemnation to condemn several parcels within the Northpark redevelopment, including property owned by Berck at 9400 Irvington Avenue and 5337 Glencoe Avenue (the Joint Property). On May 3, 2007, the court-appointed commissioners entered an award in the amount of $935,000 for the Joint Property to be paid by County to Berck as damages for County's taking. Both County and Berck filed exceptions to the award. County did not pay the commissioners' award to either Berck or the clerk of the court. ²

On October 28, 2009, County filed a Motion to Dismiss its condemnation petition regarding Berck's Joint Property. County contended that the trial court lost jurisdiction over the condemnation petition because Section 99.810.1(3) provides that “no property for a redevelopment project shall be acquired by eminent domain later than five years from the adoption of the ordinance approving such redevelopment project” and more than five years had lapsed since the adoption of the ordinance approving the Northpark redevelopment project. Berck opposed County's Motion to Dismiss and argued that County lacked authority to dismiss its condemnation action, and could only abandon the condemnation proceedings in accordance with Section 523.040. Berck also filed a motion for assessment of interest regarding the Joint Property pursuant to Section 523.045, asking the trial court to award him interest at the rate of six percent on the amount of the commissioners' award from the date the commissioners' report was filed up to the date of the abandonment. The trial court did not rule on Berck's motion for assessment of interest, but instead sustained County's motion to dismiss and ordered the matter involving the Joint Property dismissed for lack of jurisdiction on November 9, 2009.

Berck timely filed his Notice of Appeal with this Court on November 13, 2009. This appeal follows.

Point on Appeal

In his sole point on appeal, Berck alleges that the trial court erred in sustaining County's Motion to Dismiss the condemnation petition because once a commissioners' award is made, abandonment is the only means of terminating a condemnation action.

Standard of Review

“[W]hen, as here, the facts of a case are uncontested and the resolution of the issue turns solely on the interpretation of pertinent statutes, ‘a question as to the subject-matter jurisdiction of a court is purely a question of law, which is reviewed de novo.’ ” George Weis Co. v. Stratum Design-Build, Inc., 227 S.W.3d 486, 489 (Mo. banc 2007), quoting Mo. Soybean Ass'n v. Mo. Clean Water Comm'n, 102 S.W.3d 10, 22 (Mo. banc 2003).

Discussion

The matter before us is a case of first impression involving the interpretation of two separate, yet related statutes involving the taking of private property by the government through statutorily authorized procedures. On appeal, Berck argues that once the commissioners enter an award in a condemnation proceeding brought pursuant to Chapter 523, the case may be disposed only by a final judgment or a condemnor's election to abandon the proceedings. County argues that because the condemnation at issue was initiated as an eminent domain proceeding under the Real Property Tax Increment Allocation Redevelopment Act, Sections 99.800 et seq. (TIF Act), the trial court lost subject matter jurisdiction to proceed on the merits of the condemnation action after the statutory time requirements for acquiring the property under the TIF Act expired. County contends the trial court properly dismissed the condemnation petition because it lacked jurisdiction to take any other action.

A. Trial court did not lose subject matter jurisdiction over the condemnation action.

In reviewing the trial court's dismissal of this action for lack of jurisdiction, we are guided by the Missouri Supreme Court's pronouncement regarding subject matter jurisdiction in J.C.W. ex rel. Webb v. Wyciskalla, 275 S.W.3d 249 (Mo. banc 2009). As noted by the Supreme Court in Webb, Missouri courts recognize two types of jurisdiction: personal jurisdiction and subject matter jurisdiction, both of which are based on constitutional provisions. Id. at 252. Subject matter jurisdiction is governed by article V of the Missouri Constitution, and is a matter of “the court's authority to render a judgment in a particular category of case.” Id. at 253. The Missouri Constitution grants “original jurisdiction over all cases and matters, civil and criminal” to the circuit courts. Mo. Const. art. V, sec. 14. Subject matter jurisdiction is derived from the law and cannot be conferred by consent. State ex rel. Lambert v. Flynn, 348 Mo. 525, 154 S.W.2d 52, 57 (1941). When a court lacks subject matter jurisdiction, any action it takes is null and void.

Hightower v. Myers, 304 S.W.3d 727, 733 (Mo. banc 2010).

A condemnation action is a civil case over which a trial court has constitutionally vested subject matter jurisdiction. See Webb, 275 S.W.3d at 254. Accordingly, the trial court was properly vested with subject matter jurisdiction over County's petition for condemnation. County argued the trial court lost subject matter jurisdiction over the condemnation proceeding once County failed to acquire the property at issue within five years of the adoption of the ordinance approving the TIF redevelopment project as required under Section 99.810.1(3) of the TIF Act. The trial court agreed with County's argument and dismissed the condemnation petition for lack of jurisdiction. In so doing, the trial court misconstrued a circuit court's lack of subject matter jurisdiction from separate and distinct statutorily imposed limitations on a circuit court's authority to grant relief in a particular case. A circuit court's statutory authority to act differs from a circuit court's constitutionally granted subject matter and personal jurisdiction. Hightower, 304 S.W.3d at 733. Accordingly, while the language of Section 99.810.1(3) in the TIF Act may preclude the trial court from allowing County's acquisition of property by condemnation more than five years after the adoption of the ordinance approving the Northpark redevelopment, this statutory limitation does not deprive the trial court of its constitutionally vested subject matter jurisdiction over the condemnation action.

County cites the Supreme Court's ruling in State ex rel. Broadway-Washington Assocs., Ltd. v. Manners, 186 S.W.3d 272 (Mo. banc 2006), as support for its claim that the trial court lacked jurisdiction and was required to dismiss the condemnation action after five years had passed from the adoption of the Northpark redevelopment ordinance. Indeed, the facts in Broadway-Washington are analogous to those presented here, and the Supreme Court expressly held that the circuit court was without jurisdiction to enter an order of condemnation where the property at issue was not acquired within five years after the passage of the ordinance approving the redevelopment project. While we understand County's desire to rely on Broadway-Washington, 186 S.W.3d at 272, we are no longer guided by Broadway-Washington in light of the Supreme Court's 2009 holding in Webb, 275 S.W.3d at 252. Broadway-Washington was decided prior to the Webb Court's clarification of subject matter jurisdiction, and Webb emphatically distinguishes between a circuit court's statutory limitation to act as opposed to a lack of jurisdiction. 275 S.W.3d at 252-54. This distinction is critical to our analysis of the trial court's Order and Judgment. Following the dictates of Webb, this Court holds that Section 99.810.1(3) of the TIF Act does not strip a circuit court of its subject matter jurisdiction to act in a condemnation case. 275 S.W.3d at 254 . Accordingly, the trial court erred in concluding that it lacked jurisdiction to exercise its statutory authority under the condemnation statutes and in dismissing County's petition for condemnation.

B. TIF Act does not limit trial court's authority to act under the condemnation statutes.

Having decided that the trial court was properly vested with subject matter jurisdiction over the condemnation action, we next determine whether the trial court's dismissal of the condemnation petition can be supported on grounds...