Yellow Freight System, Inc. v. Mayor's Com'n on Human Rights, 14913

• Decision Date: 21 September 1987
• Docket Number: No. 14913,14913
• Citation: 737 S.W.2d 250
• Parties: YELLOW FREIGHT SYSTEM, INC., Plaintiff-Respondent, v. MAYOR'S COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, et al., Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 250

737 S.W.2d 250

YELLOW FREIGHT SYSTEM, INC., Plaintiff-Respondent, v. MAYOR'S COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, et al., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 14913.

Missouri Court of Appeals,

Southern District,

Division Two.

Sept. 21, 1987.

Dennis E. Budd, Springfield, for defendants-appellants.

Ronald E. Sandhaus, David B. Mandelbaum, Kansas City, for plaintiff-respondent.

FLANIGAN, Judge.

Rule 87.04 ¹ reads, in pertinent part:

"... In any proceeding which involves the validity of a municipal ordinance ..., such municipality shall be made a party, and shall be entitled to be heard, and, if the ... ordinance ... is alleged to be unconstitutional, the Attorney General of the state shall also be served with a copy of the proceeding and be entitled to be heard."

This proceeding involves the validity of §§ 18A-1 through 18A-30 of the Springfield City Code. These sections of the Code will be referred to as "the ordinance." The petition, filed in the circuit court, sought a declaration that the ordinance is "an unconstitutional exercise of power by the City of Springfield and [is] null and void." The City was not made a party to the proceeding, nor does the record reflect that the Missouri Attorney General was served "with a copy of the proceeding."

For reasons which follow, this court holds that under Rule 87.04, which is a rescript of § 527.110, the City of Springfield was an indispensable party to the circuit court proceeding. The presence of an indispensable party is a jurisdictional requirement, Lake Lotawana Ass'n, Inc. v. City of Lake Lotawana, 723 S.W.2d 585, 588 (Mo.App.1987); Spellerberg v. Huhn, 672 S.W.2d 728, 729 (Mo.App.1984); Vanderson v. Vanderson, 668 S.W.2d 167, 169 (Mo.App.1984); Neal v. Drennan, 640 S.W.2d 132, 136 (Mo.App.1982). Although none of the parties to this appeal has raised the matter of the nonjoinder of the City as a party, this court must raise it on its own motion. Lake Lotawana v. City of Lake Lotawana, supra, 723 S.W.2d at 588; Spellerberg v. Huhn, supra, 672 S.W.2d at 729; Vanderson v. Vanderson, supra, 668 S.W.2d at 169; Neal v. Drennan, 640 S.W.2d at 136. The failure to join the City of Springfield as a party to the circuit court proceeding is a flaw which is fatal to the trial court's judgment and requires reversal and remand.

On August 21, 1985, Yellow Freight System, Inc., respondent here, filed in the Circuit Court of Greene County, Missouri, a pleading entitled "Petition for Judicial Review of the Order of the Mayor's Commission on Human Rights and Community Relations for the City of Springfield, Missouri, and for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief." Named as defendants in the circuit court proceeding were the Mayor's Commission on Human Rights and Community Relations for the City of Springfield, Missouri, ("the Commission"), and nine individuals. The latter, apparently, are members of the Commission. The ten defendants are appellants here.

Prior to the institution of the circuit court proceeding, one Betty Shortt filed, before the Commission, a complaint against Yellow Freight. That proceeding was Case No. 84-50 on the Commission's docket and was conducted pursuant to the ordinance which deals with "Fair Employment Practices." Yellow Freight appeared before the Commission and moved to dismiss Case No. 84-50 on the following grounds: (a) The Commission "is without judicial power either to hear contested cases between parties and/or issue orders which are enforceable at law"; (b) the proceedings in Case No. 84-50 "violate Yellow Freight's constitutional right to have that matter heard and determined by a jury of its peers" (c) the Commission is preempted from hearing the specific claims set forth by [Shortt] by the Missouri Worker's Compensation Law, the Missouri Fair Employment Practices Act, and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, the latter being an Act of Congress. The Commission denied the motion.

After an evidentiary hearing, the Commission found that Shortt, an employee of Yellow Freight, was so employed for several months in 1984 until she was discharged; that Shortt was a "qualified handicapped person" within the meaning of those provisions of the ordinance relating to handicapped persons; that Yellow Freight was an employer within the meaning of the ordinance; that Yellow Freight "failed to make reasonable accommodation with regard to the employment of [Shortt]" in certain enumerated respects; that Yellow Freight discriminated against Shortt on the basis of her handicapped condition in certain enumerated respects. The Commission, "pursuant to its authority as described in [the ordinance]," ordered Yellow Freight to pay Shortt $13,760.80 in back wages and to reinstate Shortt as an employee "with all rights, privileges and benefits intact in the same manner as though [Shortt] had never been discharged." The Commission entered its findings and order on July 22, 1985.

The petition of Yellow Freight, filed in the circuit court, was in two counts, both preceded by a "Jurisdictional Statement" which stated that Yellow Freight sought judicial review of the order of the Commission under § 536.100, et seq., and also sought declaratory and injunctive relief.

Count I of the petition contained a description of the foregoing proceedings and order in Case No. 84-50 and further alleged: The Commission is an administrative body "allegedly constituted under [the ordinance]" and §§ 15.1 et seq. of the Springfield City Charter; the hearing in Case No. 84-50 was held "pursuant to [the ordinance]"; the Commission's Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Order [in Case No. 84-50] "constitute a final decision in a contested case"; said final decision is in violation of constitutional provisions and is in excess of the statutory authority or jurisdiction of the Commission; said decision is unsupported by competent and substantial evidence on the record as a whole; said decision is made upon unlawful procedure and without a fair trial; said decision is arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable; said decision involves an abuse of discretion; Yellow Freight has exhausted all administrative remedies provided by law and is aggrieved by the decision.

The prayer of Count I sought reversal of the Commission's decision and an order enjoining its enforcement.

Count II of the petition incorporated the allegations of Count I and then pleaded: The ordinance purports to be rules governing fair employment practices; "said rules provide for the institution, prosecution, and disposition of contested cases and purport to create civil liabilities between private citizens"; the Commission is not an agency created "by either the Constitution or Statutes of the State of Missouri"; the Commission "is not an agency authorized by the City Charter of the City of Springfield"; the Commission "is not an 'agency' within the meaning of § 536.063"; the Commission, in entering its order [in Case No. 84-50] exceeded the authority granted to it by the Constitution of the State of Missouri by "the Statutes of Missouri" and by the City Charter; the Commission has unconstitutionally exercised judicial power in violation of Yellow Freight's rights to due process of law and in violation of Yellow...