Wheadon v. Froelich, No. 59090
| Decision Date | 25 June 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 59090 |
| Citation | 811 S.W.2d 817 |
| Parties | Robert WHEADON, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. Robert FROELICH, et al., Defendants/Respondents. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Robert Wheadon, Jefferson City, for plaintiff/appellant.
James J. Wilson, Edward J. Hanlon, St. Louis, for defendants/respondents.
Plaintiff Robert Wheadon appeals the dismissal of his petition against police officers who were involved in his arrest for possession of cocaine. Finding his brief does not comply with the requirements of Rule 84.04, we dismiss the appeal.
In his pro se petition, plaintiff set forth two counts. As best we can discern, Count I is a libel action against two of the eight police officer defendants. In it, he charged that one officer knowingly made false statements against plaintiff in a sworn affidavit which was used to secure a search warrant. Additionally, he claimed another officer conspired with the first officer in this matter.
Count II of plaintiff's petition is against all eight officers. It alleges defendants violated § 575.320 * "by causing or conspiring to cause Plaintiff physical injury and personal damages."
Two weeks prior to filing the above petition, plaintiff had filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action in federal court. The allegations in the federal action involved the same events which prompted this petition. In the federal action, however, he named only two of the officers as defendants.
The state trial court dismissed plaintiff's lawsuit. The expressed reasons were (1) failure to state a cause of action and (2) pendency of the same cause of action in federal court.
Plaintiff's pro se brief fails to comply with the requirements of Rule 84.04. First, Rule 84.04(a)(2) requires a statement of facts. The statement of facts must be "a fair and concise statement of the facts relevant to the questions presented for determination without argument." Rule 84.04(c). In addition, Rule 84.04(h) requires "specific page references to the legal file" in the statement of facts.
Plaintiff's statement of facts contains three paragraphs. None of the three paragraphs sets forth any pleaded facts. It does not set forth a "fair and concise statement" of the relevant facts. Nor are there any page references to the 84-page legal file.
Neither does plaintiff's sole point relied on comply with Rule 84.04(d), which requires an appellant to identify the rulings of the court sought to be reviewed and to say "wherein and why" the ruling is erroneous. Abstract statements of the law do not constitute compliance.
Parties who represent themselves must satisfy all relevant rules of procedure. Arenson v. Arenson, 787 S.W.2d 845, 846 (Mo.App.E.D.1990). Parties proceeding pro se are bound by the same rules as lawyers. Snelling v. Stephenson, 747 S.W.2d 689, 690 (Mo.App.E.D.1988). "They are entitled to no indulgence they would not...
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...who represent themselves "are entitled to no indulgence they would not have received if represented by counsel." Wheadon v. Froelich, 811 S.W.2d 817, 818 (Mo.App.1991). Petitioners' brief in this court fails to comply with Rule 84.04 which deals with the contents of the brief for appellant.......
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...as a whole, the brief filed is little more than an invitation to examine the record for error. Id. at 892-93. See Wheadon v. Froelich, 811 S.W.2d 817, 818 (Mo.App.1991). In this case, Appellant contented himself with stating the relevant facts in less than three typewritten lines. His state......
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