Davis v. U.S. Bank National Ass'n

243 S.W.3d 425, 2007 Mo. App. LEXIS 1598, 2007 WL 4105135
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 20, 2007
DocketNo. ED 89430
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 243 S.W.3d 425 (Davis v. U.S. Bank National Ass'n) 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
Davis v. U.S. Bank National Ass'n, 243 S.W.3d 425, 2007 Mo. App. LEXIS 1598, 2007 WL 4105135 (Mo. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

Introduction

SHERRI B. SULLIVAN, J.

U.S. Bank National Association (Appellant) appeals from the trial court’s summary judgment in favor of Harold A. Davis (Respondent). We affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

On May 3, 1967, Respondent’s grandfather, Lorenz K. Ayers (Ayers), now deceased, executed a Living Trust Agreement (the Trust), pursuant to which Ayers appointed himself and Mercantile Trust Company, National Association (Mercantile), as Co-Trustees. On December 26, 1972, Ayers executed a Trust Indenture, pursuant to which Ayers appointed Mercantile as the Trustee1 and Respondent as the income beneficiary of the Trust, entitled to receive the entire net income of the Trust for life. Upon Respondent’s death, the principal of the Trust is to be divided among Respondent’s then living children in equal shares and distributed to each child (in trust if under the age of 21 and “outright” if 21). Respondent currently has two children, Dillon A. Davis (Son) and Marguerite S. Davis (Daughter). The Trust provides that if Respondent has no surviving children upon his death, Respondent’s share of the Trust “shall pass to his or her heirs at law who are direct descendants of [Ayers].... ” In the event that there are no heirs at law who are direct descendants of Ayers at the time of Respondent’s death, the principal passes free of trust to Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania.

On May 15, 2006, Respondent filed a petition (the Petition) pursuant to Section 456.7-706.2(4) and 456.7-704,2 seeking the removal of Appellant as Trustee, the appointment of U.S. Trust Company of Delaware (UST) as successor Trustee, and an order transferring the Trust assets to UST. The Petition asserted that it was filed on behalf of all of the Qualified Beneficiaries of the Trust; that removal of Appellant as the Trustee best served the interests of all the beneficiaries of the Trust; that removal of Appellant was not inconsistent with a material purpose of the Trust; and that UST was a suitable successor Trustee, who was available and willing to serve.

On July 20, 2006, Appellant filed its Answer to the Petition, asserting that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear the dispute because Respondent had failed to join as necessary and indispensable parties all of the Trust’s beneficiaries and that the Petition failed to state a claim because Respondent could not virtually represent the other two qualified beneficiaries, Son and Daughter.

On August 23, 2006, Appellant also filed a Motion to Dismiss the Petition for failing to join necessary and indispensable parties. On August 25, 2006, Respondent filed a Motion for Summary Judgment asserting that he had satisfied all of the statutory elements for removing a trustee. Appellant filed a Memorandum in opposition to Respondent’s Motion for Summary Judgment.

After hearing arguments on the motions and taking the matter under submission, [427]*427on January 23, 2007, the circuit court entered its Judgment denying Appellant’s Motion to Dismiss and granting Respondent’s Motion for Summary Judgment. The court ordered the removal of Appellant as Trustee and appointed UST as successor Trustee of the Trust. This appeal follows.

Points on Appeal

In its first point, Appellant asserts that the circuit court erred in denying its motion to dismiss because Respondent’s failure to join all the remainder beneficiaries of the trusts as parties to his lawsuit deprived the court of subject matter jurisdiction in that all beneficiaries of a trust are necessary and indispensable parties to any action to remove a trustee as they claim an interest in the administration of the trust which would be affected by the court’s decision.

In its second point, Appellant claims that the circuit court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Respondent because Respondent failed to establish that removal was requested by all the qualified beneficiaries as required by Section 456.7-706.2(4) in that Respondent could not virtually represent Son and Daughter under Section 456.3-303(4) as Respondent’s and Son and Daughter’s interests were inherently in conflict as a matter of law.

In its third point, Appellant maintains that the circuit court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Respondent because there are genuine issues of material fact as to whether the removal of Appellant would best serve the interests of all the Trust’s beneficiaries and is not inconsistent with a material purpose of the Trust as is required by Section 456.7-706.2(4)(a) and (b), in that Appellant presented facts in opposition to Respondent’s summary judgment motion which called into question the validity of the reduced trustee fee which Respondent claimed would be achieved by Appellant’s removal and replacement with UST and which also suggested that Respondent’s choice of successor Trustee would not have the same fiduciary responsibility to the Trust beneficiaries for management of the Trust’s investments as is imposed on Trustees under Missouri law, so that, at a minimum, Appellant was entitled to conduct discovery into these disputed factual matters before the circuit court could enter judgment as a matter of law.

Standard of Review

Our review of the trial court’s grant of summary judgment is essentially de novo. ITT Commercial Finance Corp. v. Mid-America Marine Supply Corp., 854 S.W.2d 371, 376 (Mo.banc 1993). The propriety of summary judgment is purely an issue of law. Id. We need not defer to the trial court’s order, as its judgment is founded on the record submitted and the law. Id. The criteria on appeal for testing the propriety of summary judgment are no different from those which should be used by the trial court to determine the propriety of sustaining the motion initially. Id.

Summary judgment is proper only in those situations in which the movant can establish that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Rule 74.04; ITT, 854 S.W.2d at 377. The movant has the burden to show a right to judgment flowing from facts about which there is no genuine dispute. ITT, 854 S.W.2d at 378. A court, in considering a motion for summary judgment, tests simply for the existence, not the extent, of these genuine disputes. Id. A genuine dispute exists where the record contains competent materials that evidences two [428]*428plausible, but contradictory, accounts of the essential facts. Id. at 382. If a trial court, in order to grant summary judgment, must overlook material in the record that raises a genuine dispute as to the facts underlying the movant’s right to judgment, then summary judgment is not proper. Id. at 378.

In determining the propriety of summary judgment, we are guided by three overriding principles. First, we review the record in the light most favorable to the party against whom judgment was entered. ITT, 854 S.W.2d at 376. Any evidence in the record that presents a genuine dispute as to the material facts defeats the movant’s prima facie showing. Id. at 382. Second, the facts set forth by affidavit or otherwise in support of a party’s motion are taken as true unless contradicted by the non-moving party’s response to the summary judgment motion. Id. at 376.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
243 S.W.3d 425, 2007 Mo. App. LEXIS 1598, 2007 WL 4105135, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-us-bank-national-assn-moctapp-2007.