Beverly Dummett v. Chris Koster, Attorney General of the State of Missouri

446 S.W.3d 732, 2014 Mo. App. LEXIS 1173
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 21, 2014
DocketED101328
StatusPublished

This text of 446 S.W.3d 732 (Beverly Dummett v. Chris Koster, Attorney General of the State of Missouri) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beverly Dummett v. Chris Koster, Attorney General of the State of Missouri, 446 S.W.3d 732, 2014 Mo. App. LEXIS 1173 (Mo. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

ROBERT G. DOWD, JR., Judge

Chris Koster (“the Attorney General”) appeals from the trial court’s denial of his motion to set aside the dismissal of his action to revive a judgment. The Attorney Generally argues the trial court: (1) erred in denying the Attorney General’s motion to revive the judgment and in dismissing the action; and (2) abused its discretion in denying the Attorney General’s motion to set aside the dismissal. We reverse and instruct the trial court to enter a judgment reviving the December 16, 2003 judgment.

The underlying dispute in this case involves property at 8031 Groby Road (“the Property”) in St. Louis County. In 1981, John W. Fields, Thelma Fields, Beverly Dummett, and Deborah Gardner formed a Missouri not-for-profit corporation called the Fields Missionary Society (“the Society”). The Fieldses deeded the Property to the Society. The Society was administratively dissolved in 1985. John W. Fields died in 1984. Thelma Fields died in 1997.

Dummett and Gardner filed an action seeking a lien on the Property based on $50,031.29 in expenses such as insurance and real estate taxes that they paid on behalf of the Society for the Property since 1981. The Property is titled to the Society. Dummett has resided in the home as her personal residence since 1997.

The Attorney General asserts the Property should revert to a not-for-profit corporation based on Missouri law and the Society’s Articles of Incorporation. However, the parties chose to settle the matter through a compromise.

On December 16, 2003, the Attorney General entered into a consent judgment with Dummett and Gardner. Pursuant to the consent judgment, the title to the Property was to be vested in Dummett and the Attorney General was to have a lien against the Property in the amount of $47,718.71. Dummett was to pay the Attorney General $47,718.71 on or before December 1, 2010. Upon receiving that money, the Attorney General was to file a satisfaction of judgment and was to distribute the money as follows: 50% to the Delta Sigma Theta Research Education Foundation, 25% to the St. Louis Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta for scholarships, and 25% to a not-for-profit corporation. If the Attorney General’s lien was not paid and the Property was sold to enforce the lien or for any other reason, the proceeds were to be distributed as follows: $50,031,209 to Dummett, $47,718.71 plus any accrued interest to the Attorney General, and the remainder, if any, to a Missouri not-for-profit selected by Dummett with approval from the Attorney General.

In 2013, the Attorney General filed a motion for revival of the judgment pursuant to Rule 74.09(b) and requested the trial court to issue an order to show cause as to why the judgment entered against Dummett and Gardner should not be revived.

The trial court subsequently issued a show cause order, ordering Dummett to respond and show cause as to why the trial court should not revive the December 16, 2003 consent judgment. The order also stated if Dummett failed to respond without just cause, it would revive the judgment.

The trial court then scheduled a hearing on the motion for January 14, 2014. Dum- *734 mett appeared, but the Attorney General failed to appear. The trial court continued the matter until February 11, 2014 for all parties to appear. . At the next hearing, Dummett appeared again, but the Attorney General failed to appear again. Thus, the trial court denied the Attorney General’s motion to revive the judgment and dismissed the cause for failure to prosecute.

Thereafter, the Attorney General filed a motion to set aside the order of dismissal. The Attorney General asserted it did not receive notice of either of the hearing dates at which the Attorney General failed to appear. The Attorney General noted the continuance notice for the February 11, 2014 hearing was postmarked on January 27, 2014, but was not received until February 20, 2014. Thus, the Attorney General requested that the trial court set aside its order of dismissal because the Attorney General’s absence was inadvertent and was due to a mistake.

After a hearing on the motion to set aside, the trial court issued its judgment. In its judgment, the trial court found all parties were properly notified of the January 14, 2014 and February 11, 2014 hearing dates. Further, the trial court noted the Attorney General was “a sophisticated party, familiar with the Court system and the applicable rules of civil procedure and does not satisfy Rule 74.06[.]” Thus, the trial Court denied the Attorney General’s motion to set aside the order of dismissal. This appeal follows. 1

In his first point, the Attorney General argues the trial court erred in denying the Attorney General’s motion to revive the judgment and in dismissing the action. 2 The Attorney General contends Rule 74.09 requires a court to order a judgment revived upon the timely filed motion of the judgment creditor, unless the debtor shows good cause. The Attorney General asserts he timely filed his motion to revive the judgment and Dum-mett did not show cause why the judgment should not be revived. We agree.

The only issue presented in this point is whether the trial court properly applied the law governing motions to revive judgments. As this is a purely legal question, our review of this point is de novo. Abbott v. Abbott, 415 S.W.3d 770, 771 (Mo.App.W.D.2013).

Rule 74.09 provides:

(a) When and by 'Whom. A judgment may be revived by order of the court that entered it pursuant to a motion for revival filed by a judgment creditor within ten years after entry of the judgment or the last prior revival of the judgment.
(b) Order to Show Cause. Upon the filing of a motion of revival of a judgment, an order shall issue to the judgment debtor to show cause on a day certain why such judgment should not be revived. The order to show cause shall be served pursuant to Rule 54 on the judgment debtor, his successors in interest, or his legal representatives.
(c) Judgment of Revival. If the judgment debtor, his successors in interest, or legal representatives fail to appear and show cause why the judgment should not be revived, the court shall enter an order reviving the judgment.

A party seeking revival of judgment need do no more than file a motion for revival within ten years of either the *735 date the judgment was rendered or the date of the last revival. Abbott, 415 S.W.3d at 774. The Attorney General filed its motion for revival of the December 16, 2003 judgment on November 26, 2013, which was within the ten-year time period in Rule 74.09(a).

Subsequently, Drummett' appeared but there is nothing in the record indicating that she showed cause as to why the judgment should not be revived. Thus, due to Drummett’s failure to show cause, the trial court was mandated by Rule 74.09(c) to enter an order reviving the judgment.

Therefore, the trial court erred in denying the Attorney General’s motion to revive the judgment. Point granted.

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Related

Abbott v. Abbott
415 S.W.3d 770 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2013)
Edwards v. Black Twig Marketing & Communications LLC
418 S.W.3d 512 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2013)

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Bluebook (online)
446 S.W.3d 732, 2014 Mo. App. LEXIS 1173, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beverly-dummett-v-chris-koster-attorney-general-of-the-state-of-missouri-moctapp-2014.