Elrod v. Lafayette Elevator Company

379 S.W.2d 852, 1964 Mo. App. LEXIS 638
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 1, 1964
Docket23911
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 379 S.W.2d 852 (Elrod v. Lafayette Elevator Company) 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
Elrod v. Lafayette Elevator Company, 379 S.W.2d 852, 1964 Mo. App. LEXIS 638 (Mo. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinion

BROAD DUS, Presiding Judge.

This case originated when plaintiff filed a petition for damages in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, at Independence on February 7, 1958, against Lafayette Farm Supply, Inc., and Henry Brocket. He alleged that he was involved in a motor vehicle accident in Jackson County, Missouri, on October 3, 1955, between a vehicle he was operating and one that was being operated by defendant, Henry Brocket. He alleged that defendant, Henry Brocket, was the agent and servant of defendant Lafayette Farm Supply, Inc. He alleged that he sustained certain injuries and property damage as a result of said collision.

Service thereafter was attempted on Henry Brocket at his usual place of abode in Lafayette County, Missouri, by the sheriff of Lafayette County. Brocket filed a motion to quash the sheriff’s return, and this case was later voluntarily dismissed as to him.

Defendant, Lafayette Farm Supply, Inc., filed its answer to plaintiff’s petition in which it denied the allegations of agency between it and the defendant, Henry Brocket.

Thereafter, on November 4, 1960, plaintiff filed his first amended petition against Lafayette Farm Supply, Inc., only again alleging that Henry Brocket was the agent and servant of the defendant Lafayette Farm Supply, Inc. That defendant filed its answer to plaintiff’s first amended petition denying the allegations of agency between it and Henry Brocket.

Thereafter, in answer to a request for admissions propounded to it, Lafayette Farm Supply, Inc., denied that Henry Brocket was its agent, servant and employee.

Thereafter, on December 5, 1960, plaintiff filed his second amended petition for damages, adding as parties defendant, Lafayette Transport Company and Lafayette Elevator Company. Lafayette Farm Supply, Inc., filed its answer to plaintiff’s second amended petition in which it continued to deny the allegations of agency between it and Henry Brocket.

Lafayette Transport Company and Lafayette Elevator Company filed their motion to dismiss the action as to them on the grounds that plaintiff’s petition showed on its face that it was an action for personal injuries arising out of an automobile accident that occurred on October 3, 1955, and that plaintiff’s second amended petition was filed December 5, 1960, which was more than five years after plaintiff’s cause of action accrued, and was barred by the statute of limitations, V.A.M.S. § 516.120. This motion was sustained by the court on February 25, 1961, and plaintiff was given ten days in which to file an amended petition. This time was extended several times until June 15, 1961, at which time the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed his second amended petition against Lafayette Transport Company and Lafayette Elevator Company.

On June 16, 1961, plaintiff filed a motion to correct the misnomer in the defendant’s name by substitution of the word “Elevator” for the words “Farm Supply, Inc., in plaintiff’s second amended petition. On June 30, *854 1961, in the absence of defendant’s attorney and without hearing evidence, this motion was sustained.

Thereafter, Lafayette Elevator Company appeared specially and filed its motion to dismiss stating that the action of the court in allowing plaintiff to correct a misnomer was done without notice to the Lafayette Elevator Company and was done more than five years after plaintiff’s cause of action arose, and was thus barred by the statute of limitations. Lafayette Elevator Company further set out that it had never been served with summons or a copy of the petition as required by law; that an attempt had been made to make it a defendant theretofore; that the action had been dismissed as to Lafayette Elevator Company on the grounds that the action was barred by the statute of limitations; that this action of the court had never been set aside and was a bar to further proceedings concerning this question; that correcting a misnomer was an attempt to state a cause of action against Lafayette Elevator Company after the expiration of five years and was barred by the court’s action in dismissing this action as to Lafayette Elevator Company and that Lafayette Elevator Company had never been notified since the court’s action in dismissing plaintiff’s petition as to it that it was a party to this lawsuit, and had not been afforded an opportunity to object thereto. This motion of Lafayette Elevator Company was by the court overruled and after an abortive attempt to obtain prohibition which was denied by the Supreme Court on the ground “that remedy by appeal is adequate”, Lafayette Elevator Company appeared specially and filed its answer to plaintiff’s petition in which it stated that it had never been served with summons or copy of petition; that there was no misnomer in plaintiff's second amended petition; that the action of the court in allowing the plaintiff to substitute “Elevator” for “Farm Supply, Inc.,” was without notice to Lafayette Elevator Company, and without affording it an opportunity to object, and without evidence to support the claim of misnomer and amounted to an unlawful substitution of parties; that the court had theretofore dismissed the action as to Lafayette Elevator Company on the grounds that the action was barred by the statute of limitations; that this action was never set aside and was a bar to further proceeding in this regard and was Res Judicata, and that any action against Lafayette Elevator Company was barred by the statute of limitations.

Thereafter, this case was tried resulting in a verdict and judgment for plaintiff, from which judgment the defendant has appealed.

Appellant contends that the trial court erred in sustaining respondent’s motion to correct a misnomer in respondent’s second amended petition and overruling appellant’s motion to dismiss because: The correction of the alleged misnomer amounted to a substitution of parties defendant, was a correction of a pleading, itself filed after the statute of limitations had run.

On June 30, 1961, the Court sustained respondent’s motion and substituted the word “Elevator” for the words “Farm Supply, Inc.,” in plaintiff’s second amended petition. The plaintiff’s second amended petition was filed on December 5, 1960, which was more than five years after the happening of the accident alleged therein on October 3, 1955. No action was taken, nor was any asked for in connection with plaintiff’s original petition, first amended petition, the summons, nor the return of the Sheriff. Thus, an amendment to plaintiff’s second amended petition still leaves the plaintiff without the statute of limitations because such amended petition was filed after the statute had run. It was held in Bruun v. Katz Drug Company, Inc., et al., 359 Mo. 334, 221 S.W.2d 717, 1. c. 718:

“Where a plaintiff files an amended petition bringing into the case new defendants, and if between the time of the commencement of an action and the time when new defendants are brought *855 into the case the period of limitation prescribed by law for such an action has expired, the new parties may plead the statute as a bar of their liability, although the defense may not be available to the original defendants, Jaicks v. Sullivan, 128 Mo. 177, 30 S.W. 890.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
379 S.W.2d 852, 1964 Mo. App. LEXIS 638, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/elrod-v-lafayette-elevator-company-moctapp-1964.