State ex rel. Niess v. Junkins
| Decision Date | 06 November 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 60652,60652 |
| Citation | 572 S.W.2d 468 |
| Parties | STATE ex rel. Nancy NIESS et al., Relators-Respondents, v. Dr. J. Merrell JUNKINS et al., Respondents-Appellants. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Jon Dermott, Joplin, for respondents-appellants.
Thomas D. Carver, Carver & Sotta, Joplin, David T. Greis, Kansas City, for relators-respondents.
Individually named teachers of the Joplin School District and the Joplin Community Teachers Association, an unincorporated association consisting of a majority of the teachers employed by the school district (hereinafter relators), filed an action in mandamus against members of the Joplin School Board (hereinafter respondents) to compel the board to pay additional salary alleged to be due teachers under the provisions of § 163.031(9). 1 The trial court ruled that the action was maintainable by relators as a class action, that mandamus was a proper remedy and that the writ should be granted. Respondents appealed to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Springfield District, which transferred the case to this court for opinion on the basis that the case involves construction of a revenue law of the state. We have jurisdiction. Mo.Const. art. V, § 3. We reverse.
Relators' petition alleged that they would fairly and adequately protect the interests of the teachers' association, its members and all other teachers in the district. It also alleged that the class was so numerous that joinder was impractical, that the claims of the relators were typical of the claims of other teachers, and that there were questions of law and fact common to all the teachers in the district. Respondents filed a pre-trial motion asking the court to determine whether the individual relators would adequately represent the claims of all teachers employed by the district. The trial court did not rule on that motion and made no pre-trial order concerning relators' request to bring the action as a class action. After trial the court found in Finding of Fact No. 3 that the teachers' association, of which individual relators were officers, comprised some 340 out of a total of approximately 450 teachers in the school system and would fairly and adequately represent the interests of all teachers in the district. In Conclusion of Law No. 1, the court found that relators could bring the action as representatives of their own unincorporated association and as representatives of all teachers in the school district. The court set out the four prerequisites to a class action recited in Rule 52.08(a), V.A.M.R. 2 and found and concluded that each of those prerequisites had been met.
Class actions are governed by Rule 52.08. In addition to the four prerequisites contained in 52.08(a), the presence of which the trial court found in Conclusion of Law No. 1, the rule requires in 52.08(b) that one of three additional prerequisites listed therein be found to exist. The trial court made no finding as to the presence or absence of any of these three prerequisites. In addition, Rule 52.08(c) provides in part as follows:
As previously noted, the trial court made no pre-trial order pursuant to Rule 52.08(c) and it did not at any time direct that notice be given to members of the class pursuant to Rule 52.08(c)(2).
In Moore v. City of Pacific, 534 S.W.2d 486 (Mo.App.1976), in discussing whether that action was maintainable as a class action under Rule 52.08 the court noted that there had been no pre-trial order finding that the prerequisites of Rule 52.08(c)(1) had been met and no notice had been issued to purported members of the class in accordance with Rule 52.08(c)(2). The court held that such a pre-trial order is a condition precedent to the maintenance of a class action under Rule 52.08 and that in the absence of such order and notice, the suit was not maintainable as a class action. The court permitted the case to proceed as a suit by the individual plaintiffs for the relief sought.
In this case, as previously noted, there was no pre-trial order with reference to maintenance of this suit as a class action. There was no finding at any time as to compliance with the requirements of Rule 52.08(b) and there was no notice given to members of the class in accordance with Rule 52.08(c)(2). Consequently, we conclude that this case was not maintainable as a class action and the trial court erred in holding that it was. However, the suit is maintainable by the individual relators on their own behalf and the suit is maintainable by them on behalf of the teachers' association pursuant to the provisions of Rule 52.10 which governs actions relating to unincorporated associations.
Respondents assert that the judgment herein should be reversed for the reason that mandamus is not an appropriate remedy. Both respondents and relators cite numerous cases in support of their respective positions. We conclude that we need not review those cases and resolve this issue because assuming, but without deciding, that mandamus is appropriate, relators are not entitled to
the relief granted by the trial court. Did the Joplin R-VIII
School District Comply With § 163.031(9)
for the 1974-75 School Year?
Section 163.031 provides that school districts which meet certain requirements shall be entitled to what is referred to as minimum guarantee funds under the state school foundation program. The section establishes a formula for determining the amount to which a qualifying district is entitled. Section 163.061 requires that not less than eighty percent of such sums must be deposited in the district's teachers' fund and the remainder in the incidental fund. This was done for the year 1974-75. The district received $2,947,672 in minimum guarantee funds; it deposited $2,358,138 thereof in its teachers' fund, and the rest in its incidental fund.
In June 1974, following negotiations, the school board set teachers' salaries for 1974-75. At that time preliminary figures indicated that $2,219,296 would be received under the minimum guarantee from the state. In September 1974, the school board received notice that it would receive an additional sum of $138,842 or a total of $2,358,138 minimum guarantee for the year. The board then adopted a final budget reflecting this additional amount of anticipated state aid but did not change the amounts to be paid to teachers. The teachers' association made a demand on the school board that this additional $138,842 be paid to teachers in salary. It is their contention that the district is obligated to pay this additional sum to teachers pursuant to § 163.031(9), which provides:
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State ex rel. Schneider v. Stewart, KCD
...requirements of Rule 52.08(b) were met and that the action, thus, was maintainable. We deem Count II abandoned. State ex rel. Niess v. Junkins, 572 S.W.2d 468 (Mo.banc The respondents Supervisor and Malvern iterate on appeal the substance of their motion to dismiss before the circuit court,......
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...due process is maintained. The requirements of this rule are not merely technical or directory, but mandatory. State ex rel. Niess v. Junkins, 572 S.W.2d 468, 470 (Mo.1978); Moore v. City of Pacific, 534 S.W.2d 486, 493 (Mo.App.1976); Carl C. Wheaton, The New General Code for Civil Procedur......
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