City of Caruthersville v. Faris

146 S.W.2d 80, 237 Mo. App. 605, 1940 Mo. App. LEXIS 9
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 14, 1940
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 146 S.W.2d 80 (City of Caruthersville v. Faris) 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
City of Caruthersville v. Faris, 146 S.W.2d 80, 237 Mo. App. 605, 1940 Mo. App. LEXIS 9 (Mo. Ct. App. 1940).

Opinion

*608 TATLOW, P. J.

This is a condemnation proceeding seeking to condemn land to enlarge a cemetery.

The petition has two prongs; that is, it presents two separate and perhaps inconsistent theories. The six individual plaintiffs seek to condemn the land under the power of eminent domain, which they claim is conferred upon them by section 14066, Revised Statutes 1929, as representatives of the public, to enlarge a public cemetery. The City of Caruthersville seeks to condemn the land under the power of eminent domain, which it claims is conferred upon it under Section ,6852, Revised Statutes 1929, relating to cities of the third class. The allegations of. the petition as to the alleged cause of action of the individuals is as follows:

“Plaintiffs further state that the individual plaintiffs constitute more than five persons of the public in interest who reside near and within the vicinity of Little Prairie Cemetery, á public cemetery and burial ground of the dead, owned, controlled and maintained by the City of Caruthersville, Missouri.
“Plaintiffs further state that said Little Prairie Cemetery is located immediately south and within three miles of the said City of Caruthersville, and embraces and includes therein about nine acres of ground; that said cemetery is now practically and completely filled with graves and that all of the burial space therein is practically exhausted, and by reason thereof it has become and is absolutely necessary to enlarge said public cemetery and burial ground, and that the plaintiff City and the said individual plaintiffs as members and constituting a part of the public, are interested in the enlargement of said burial ground and cemetery, and that the enlargement thereof is in the interest of the public in order to acquire grounds for the burial of the dead.; and that public necessity and convenience require the taking and condemning of the following described parcel of land in Pemiscot County, Missouri, belonging to the defendants, John G-. Faris, G. Y. Faris and Charles (Charlie) Faris, to-wit

Then follows a description of the 4.29 acres sought to be condemned.

The allegations of the petition, with reference to the alleged cause of action in favor of the City, are, in addition to the above allegations, that it is a city of the third class with full power and authority to condemn property for public purposes; and the land sought to be condemned is within three miles of the city and is less than 160 acres.

*609 The defendants interposed a demurrer to the petition, alleging, as grounds therefor, the following:

“1. That it appears upon the face of the petition that there is a misjoinder of parties plaintiff, in that, the suit is brought on behalf of the City of Caruthersville, a municipal corporation, and on behalf of certain individuals who claim to represent the public and the parties plaintiff are not united in interest, but claim in different capacities.
“2. That so far as the plaintiff, the City of Caruthersville, is concerned the petition wholly fails to state any cause of action in favor of said plaintiff against the defendants, or either of them.
“3. That there is a defect of parties plaintiff and defendant in this cause, in that, there are parties interested in the subject matter of the action who'are neither made plaintiff or defendant therein.”

The defendants no doubt could have required the plaintiffs to elect upon which cause of action the city or the individual defendants would proceed. They did not do so and have presented the case on a joint abstract and on joint briefs. The court sustained the demurrer as to the City of Caruthersville and overruled it as to the individual defendants. It then appointed commissioners who assessed the damages that the defendants had sustained through the taking of their property, in the sum of $1179.75. The defendants filed exceptions to the report, as follows:

“1. That the damages so assessed are greatly inadequate and greatly less than just compensation to defendants as to the land described in said report and in the petition for condemnation herein.
“2. That the petition does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action.
“3. That the Court is without jurisdiction of the subject-matter of the proceedings herein for the reason plaintiffs have no right to condemn said land for cemetery purposes under the law and the allegations of the petition herein.”

The decree of the court, pmitting the caption and appearance of counsel, provides as follows:

“. . . plaintiffs pay into court for the use and benefit of said defendants the sum of Eleven Hundred Seventy-Nine and 75/100 ($1179.75) Dollars, the amount of the award made by the Commissioners heretofore appointed herein. Thereupon the defendants withdraw their motion heretofore filed to dismiss plaintiffs’ suit on the ground plaintiffs had not deposited in court the amount of damages so assessed by the Commissioners.
“Thereupon the court takes up' for consideration the exceptions to the report of the Commissioners filed herein by the defendants, and the court overrules that part of said exceptions attacking the sufficiency of the petition herein, and that, part of said exceptions attacking the jurisdiction of this court over the subject-matter of the *610 proceedings herein. Thereupon the parties announce ready for trial, on’the petition and exceptions to the report of the Commissioners relating to damages and the trial proceeds, all parties waiving a jury, and after hearing the evidence and being fully advised in the premises the court doth find that the defendants have been damaged by the appropriation of the real estate hereinafter described in the sum of Eleven Hundred Seventy-Nine and 75/100 ($1179.75) Dollars.
“It is therefore ordered, adjudged and decreed that the defendants have and recover of the plaintiffs the sum of Eleven Hundred Seventy-Nine and 75/100 ($1179.75) Dollars, their damages as found as aforesaid, and it is further ordered, adjudged and decreed that the plaintiffs have and recover of the defendants the title and. possession for public cemetery-purposes and the enlargement of Little Prairie Cemetery in Pemiscot County, Missouri, the real estate described in and set out in plaintiffs petition herein, located in Pemiscot County Missouri and described as follows: (describing it). The court further adjudged orders and decrees that the defendants shall without delay deliver up to the plaintiffs full and complete possession of the real estate described as aforesaid for use as aforesaid, and the court further orders that the cost of this proceeding accruing prior to the time of filing exceptions to the Report of Commissioners be taxed against the plaintiffs, and that the costs accruing subsequent to the time of filing said exceptions be taxed against the defendants.”

The defendants appealed from the judgment and decree condemning their land and the City appealed from the action of the court in sustaining the defendants’ demurrer as to it.

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Bluebook (online)
146 S.W.2d 80, 237 Mo. App. 605, 1940 Mo. App. LEXIS 9, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-caruthersville-v-faris-moctapp-1940.