First Savings Bank, F.S.B. v. Whitley

751 S.W.2d 60, 1987 Mo. App. LEXIS 5002, 1987 WL 2256
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 8, 1987
DocketNo. WD 39559
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 751 S.W.2d 60 (First Savings Bank, F.S.B. v. Whitley) 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
First Savings Bank, F.S.B. v. Whitley, 751 S.W.2d 60, 1987 Mo. App. LEXIS 5002, 1987 WL 2256 (Mo. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

MANFORD, Judge.

This is an action in unlawful detainer. Appeal lies from the entry of summary judgment. A motion to dismiss the appeal was ordered taken with the case. The appeal is dismissed.

In 1986, the parties entered into an agreement for the construction of a residence upon a lot owned by appellant in Platte County, Missouri. In May, 1986, [61]*61appellant executed a promissory note for $280,000.00 for a construction loan to the favor of respondent. The loan was secured by a deed of trust on the lot owned by appellant. As per the parties’ agreement, the loan monies were made available to appellant by way of a loans-in-progress account established by respondent. Payment of construction costs through this account was left to the discretion of appellant.

On September 1, 1986, appellant transferred $20,000.00 from the loans-in-progress account by check to a personal account in respondent bank. Appellant then wrote a personal check upon her personal account with respondent bank and attempted to deposit the $20,000.00 in a personal account in another bank. Respondent dishonored appellant’s check and set off the sum of $20,000.00 in her personal account with respondent. The loans-in-progress account was then credited with the $20,000.00 sum. The record reveals that appellant was never in arrears on the repayment of the construction loan.

On September 9, 1986, respondent bank notified appellant of her default on the construction loan. Appellant then received a notice of acceleration of the debt and a notice of foreclosure sale of appellant’s property (lot). This action was predicated upon appellant’s attempt to withdraw funds from the construction loan account in an unauthorized fashion, and her attempt to deposit the $20,000.00 in her personal account in another bank. The foreclosure sale was set for October 31, 1986.

On October 30, 1986, appellant filed an injunction action against the foreclosure on the basis she was not in default on the construction loan. The circuit court granted appellant a preliminary injunction and enjoined the foreclosure sale upon the condition appellant post a $50,000.00 bond pri- or to the sale day (October 31, 1986). Appellant did not post the bond and the foreclosure sale was concluded with respondent being the purchaser of appellant’s property Got).

Respondent then filed an unlawful de-tainer action to remove appellant from the property. Appellant filed her answer, which included an affirmative defense. Respondent filed a motion to strike appellant’s affirmative defense and the circuit court sustained respondent’s motion to strike. Respondent then filed a motion for summary judgment. Respondent’s motion for summary judgment was granted and appellant’s counter-motion for summary judgment was denied. Appellant then filed the present appeal.

While the matter was before this court on appeal, respondent filed a motion to dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction upon appellant’s failure to post an appeal bond. The Chief Judge of this court initially overruled respondent’s motion, then reversed that ruling and ordered the motion taken with the case. Oral argument was received, and the matter now calls for disposition.

In summary, respondent’s motion alleges that this court is without jurisdiction to entertain this appeal because appellant has failed to file the bond required by § 534.380, RSMo 1986. That statute reads as follows:

534.380. Judgment stay for appeals and trial de novo.—
Applications for trials de novo and appeals shall be allowed and conducted in the manner provided in chapter 512, RSMo, but no application for a trial de novo or appeal shall be allowed unless a bond which is sufficient to act as a super-sedeas of the judgment is filed with the court within ten days after rendition of the judgment.

In summary, appellant responds by asserting that this court has jurisdiction to entertain this appeal because the foregoing statute has been declared unconstitutional and hence she was not required to file a bond.

The following is an analysis of what has occurred relative to this statute, along with the disposition of this matter.

Appellant contends that § 534.380 was held by this court to be unconstitutional in the case of Champlin Petroleum Co. v. Brashears, 592 S.W.2d 545 (Mo.App.1979).

[62]*62Technically, appellant’s contention is not entirely correct. The ruling in Champlin related to the predecessor statute § 534.400, RSMo 1969, which reads as follows:

534.400. Time for appeal, notice, bond —transcript filed, when. — No appeal shall be allowed in any case, unless notice thereof is filed by the appellant, his agent or attorney, as in other civil cases before magistrates, and sufficient recognizance is filed with the magistrate within ten days after the rendition of the judgment. A transcript of all entries and all papers and process in the case shall be filed by the magistrate in the office of the clerk of the court having appellate jurisdiction within ten days after the appeal is taken as in other civil . cases.

Section 534.400 was repealed by the Missouri General Assembly and replaced with the current section, § 534.380, effective January 2, 1979. Comparison of the two statutory provisions clearly denotes they are, in substance, the same. Technically, it could be argued that Champlin did not address § 534.380 because said section was enacted subsequent to the ruling in Champlin. However, § 534.400 is clearly the predecessor statute to § 534.380, warranting application of Champlin to § 534.380.

As to whether Champlin can be held applicable to the present statute is of little matter in light of action by the Missouri Supreme Court previous to the Champlin ruling. This court, in Champlin, followed the ruling of the Missouri Supreme Court in Dixon v. Davis, 521 S.W.2d 442 (Mo.1975). In Dixon, the Missouri Supreme Court was called upon to consider the constitutional validity of § 535.110, RSMo 1969. That statute, applicable to appeals from magistrate courts in a landlord/tenant action, had previously been construed as requiring a bond by a tenant before the circuit court secured jurisdiction of the appeal, even though the tenant had surrendered possession of the premises. Avalon Development Company v. American Italian Construction and Development Company, 437 S.W.2d 702, 704 (Mo.App.1969).

In Dixon, 521 S.W.2d at 444, the Missouri Supreme Court quoted from the case of Reed v. Reed, 404 U.S. 71, 92 S.Ct. 251, 30 L.Ed.2d 225 (1971), and stated that the 14th Amendment, while allowing the various states to treat different classes of persons in different ways, also denied to various states

the power to legislate that different treatment be accorded to persons placed by a statute into different classes on the basis of criteria wholly unrelated to the objective of the statute.

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Bluebook (online)
751 S.W.2d 60, 1987 Mo. App. LEXIS 5002, 1987 WL 2256, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-savings-bank-fsb-v-whitley-moctapp-1987.