Gall v. Steele

547 S.W.3d 564
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMay 22, 2018
DocketNo. SC 96188
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 547 S.W.3d 564 (Gall v. Steele) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gall v. Steele, 547 S.W.3d 564 (Mo. 2018).

Opinion

Draper, J., concurs in separate opinion filed;

Stith, J., concurs in opinion of Draper, J.

CONCURRING OPINION

George W. Draper III, Judge

I concur in the principal opinion's holding reversing the circuit court's judgment and entering judgment for Judge Steele and Judge Swaim.1 While I agree Decker waived her statutory authority by entering into the 2008 consolidation agreement, I believe Plaintiffs likewise waived their challenge to the validity of this Court's *5692009 order through their pleadings. More importantly, I am compelled to write separately to discuss that which the principal opinion is unwilling to address: the impact of this Court's 2009 and 2013 orders on the 2008 consolidation agreement, which the principal opinion acknowledges consumed substantial portions of the circuit court's judgment and the parties' appellate briefs and argument before the court of appeals and this Court.

Waiver

A careful reading of Plaintiffs' pleadings and the procedural posture of this case establishes Plaintiffs waived their challenge to the validity of the 2009 court order in their summary judgment motion. Count I focused solely on the May 2013 and April 2014 amendments, arguing the purported appointment of any judge, or anyone other than the elected circuit clerk, violated Missouri constitutional provisions and section 483.245.2 Count II concerned alleged state sunshine law violations, which were dismissed voluntarily.

Judge Steele's motion to dismiss noted that to invalidate the May 2013 and April 2014 amendments, the circuit court also would have to find the 2009 court order and the circuit court budget committee's (hereinafter, "the CCBC") approval of the amendments was unconstitutional. Judge Swaim's motion to dismiss argued, "This case belongs in [this Court], because only [this Court] may resolve a dispute over the authority of a circuit court, and only [this Court] may determine the validity of its own orders." Judge Swaim's memorandum in support of her motion to dismiss recognized Plaintiffs were contesting the validity of the 2009 court order.

The circuit court addressed the issues raised in the motions to dismiss in a docket entry order on July 17, 2015, stating in part:

It appears to [the circuit court] that the ultimate issue before it is whether the Supreme Court [of Missouri] has the authority (1) to issue an administrative order that may, upon implementation, [divest] an elect[ed] official of her statutory authority to be the appointing authority with hire and fire power over her staff and (2) do so without violating the [s]eparation of [p]owers?
By their written suggestions in support of their respective motions to dismiss and in their oral arguments, [Judge] Swaim and [Judge] Steele, jointly and severally, suggest that original jurisdiction in this matter lies in the Supreme Court [of Missouri]....

The circuit court analyzed whether Plaintiffs should have filed a writ with this Court to resolve the 2009 court order's validity. However, the circuit court determined first it should decide whether Judge Steele acted in accord with the 2009 court order's procedure. The circuit court reasoned, if Judge Steele failed to follow the proper procedure, his failure would render moot the issue of whether the 2009 court order was valid. The circuit court overruled the motions to dismiss but expressed a willingness to allow the parties to seek a writ with this Court, which did not occur.

A month after the July 17, 2015, order, Plaintiffs filed their motion for summary judgment, framing two issues to be resolved: (1) whether the circuit court could designate anyone other than the elected circuit clerk as the appointing authority without violating the separation of powers, the Missouri constitution, and section 483.245; and (2) assuming the transfer of the circuit clerk's appointing authority was proper, whether Judge Steele's purported *570transfer without approval of the Second Judicial Circuit en banc complied with the procedural requirements of the 2009 court order. Plaintiffs expressly conceded:

[The 2009 court order] itself does not raise a separation of powers question, and Plaintiffs do not challenge it in this action. [The 2009 court order] avoids constitutional issues because its language left discretion about its implementation to the circuit courts themselves, in view of the fact that not every Missouri circuit court has the same internal organization. The [2009 court order] is not in tension with [section] 483.245, because section 2 of that provision provides that county charters may vest the appointing authority of the circuit clerk in others.... Plaintiffs challenge the Second Circuit's implementation of the [2009 court order], not the [2009 court order] itself.

Plaintiffs proceeded under the express assumption the 2009 court order was valid and applied to the Second Judicial Circuit when arguing Judge Steele did not comply with its procedural requirements in seeking to adopt the May 2013 amendment.

Judge Swaim responded that the April 2014 amendment complied with the 2009 and 2013 court orders because it was adopted by unanimous vote of the Second Judicial Circuit en banc and approved by the CCBC. Judge Swaim further argued the 2009 and 2013 court orders did not violate the Missouri Constitution or section 483.245.2. Judge Steele made substantially similar arguments and additionally argued Plaintiffs' procedural defect argument must fail because they voluntarily dismissed count II.

"Generally, a party on appeal 'must stand or fall' by the theory on which he tried and submitted his case in the court below." State v. Pierce , 433 S.W.3d 424, 428 (Mo. banc 2014) (quoting Walker v. Owen , 79 Mo. 563, 568 (Mo. 1883) ). "Under this general rule, issues that are not raised in the trial court are waived." Id. Plaintiffs never raised a constitutional challenge to the 2009 or 2013 court order. To the extent the motions to dismiss raised the issue, it is apparent Plaintiffs' subsequent summary judgment motion explicitly waived and abandoned this issue. Hence, I agree this Court need not address or resolve Plaintiffs' waived constitutional challenges to the 2009 court order.

This Court's 2009 and 2013 Orders

Approximately eighteen months after Decker entered into the 2008 consolidation agreement, then-Chief Justice William Ray Price Jr. signed an order on behalf of this Court pursuant to article V, section 4 of the Missouri Constitution directing "all circuit courts that have not previously consolidated all deputy circuit clerks and division clerks under the supervision of one appointing authority shall be consolidated." Consolidation of court personnel was necessary in light of the budget constraints facing the state at the time.

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Bluebook (online)
547 S.W.3d 564, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gall-v-steele-mo-2018.