Jenette Konopasek v. Douglas and Laura Konopasek

Supreme Court of Missouri·Decided June 27, 2023·No. SC99816·Published

Opinion

SUPREME COURT OF MISSOURI en banc

JENETTE KONOPASEK, ) Opinion issued June 27, 2023, and modified ) on the Court's own motion August 15, 2023 Appellant, )

)

v. ) No. SC99816 )

DOUGLAS and LAURA KONOPASEK, )

)

Respondents. )

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF TANEY COUNTY The Honorable Renee Tiffany Yarnell, Judge

Jenette Konopasek appeals the judgment of the Taney County circuit court dismissing her petition seeking relief from fraudulent transfers Douglas Konopasek made to hinder collection of her judgments against him. She claims the circuit court erred in dismissing her petition because she alleged facts that, if true, demonstrate she is a creditor of Douglas 1 and he made two transfers with the actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud her and, regarding one of the transfers, without receiving a reasonably equivalent value in exchange for the transfer when he was insolvent or became insolvent as a result of the transfer. The Court holds Jenette adequately alleged facts that, if taken as true, entitle her

1 Because Jenette, Douglas, and Laura share the Konopasek surname, this opinion hereinafter refers to the parties by their first names for clarity. No disrespect or undue familiarity is intended.

to relief under the Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act (“UFTA”), sections 428.005 to 428.059. 2 Therefore, the circuit court’s judgment is reversed, and the case is remanded.

Factual and Procedural Background In January 2013, Jenette obtained a judgment in the amount of $7,288, with interest accruing at the statutory rate, against Douglas in the Clay County circuit court. In December 2015, Douglas was involved in an automobile accident in the course of his employment and, as a result of the accident, he accrued a workers’ compensation claim against his employer and a personal injury claim against a third party. The following August, Douglas and Laura Konopasek married.

In May 2018, Douglas settled his workers’ compensation claim for $49,771.73 and deposited the settlement proceeds into a bank account he and Laura hold as tenants by the entirety. Then, in June 2018, he settled his personal injury claim for $235,336.49 and deposited the settlement proceeds into the same bank account held as tenants by the entirety.

In March 2020, Jenette obtained a second judgment against Douglas in the circuit court of Benton County in the amount of $12,564.93. 3 In March 2021, she filed a petition against Douglas and Laura in the Stone County circuit court seeking, among other things, to avoid the transfers Douglas made into the tenancy-by-the-entirety bank account and attach any and all accounts to which any part of the settlement proceeds were transferred

2 All statutory citations are to RSMo 2016. 3 The petition alleges post-judgment interest accrued on the Clay County and Benton County judgments, bringing the respective balances to $12,643.18 and $13,827.38, as of March 17, 2021.

to the extent necessary to satisfy her judgments. Douglas and Laura filed a motion to dismiss asserting venue was improper in Stone County because they resided in Taney County, citing section 508.010(2). The circuit court construed the motion to dismiss to be a motion for change of venue, which it sustained, and transferred the case to Taney County.

After the case was transferred, Jenette filed an amended petition, and Douglas and Laura filed a motion to dismiss. In their motion, Douglas and Laura asserted Jenette failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted because she: did not plead the elements of fraud with particularity; failed to allege facts regarding the “necessary elements” (badges of fraud) in section 428.024.2(2); failed to allege a “specific conveyance”; and “fail[ed] to specific [sic] any evidence do you have [sic] that any transfer was made with an intent to hinder, delay or defraud creditors.” The motion also averred that, pursuant to section 454.525.3, Jenette was required to file her action in the prior Clay County case because the Clay County judgment included a support obligation.

The circuit court sustained the motion without specifying the grounds for its ruling and entered a judgment dismissing Jenette’s petition without prejudice. Jenette appealed. This Court granted transfer after opinion by the court of appeals. Mo. Const. art. V, sec. 10.

Final Judgment

The Court first addresses Douglas and Laura’s challenge to this Court’s appellate jurisdiction. The “right to appeal is purely statutory.” Butala v. Curators of Univ. of Mo., 620 S.W.3d 89, 93 (Mo. banc 2021). Douglas and Laura claim the dismissal of Jenette’s

petition without prejudice is not a final judgment; therefore, section 512.020(5) does not authorize this appeal.

Jenette appeals pursuant to section 512.020(5), which authorizes an aggrieved party to appeal from any final judgment in a case. “[T]his Court occasionally has referred to a ‘general rule that a dismissal without prejudice is not a final judgment and, therefore, is not appealable.’” Naylor v. Senior Citizens Hous., LP v. Side Constr. Co., 423 S.W.3d 238, 242 (Mo. banc 2014) (quoting Chromalloy Am. Corp. v. Elyria Foundry Co., 955 S.W.2d 1, 3 (Mo. banc 1997)). “Nonetheless, an appeal from a dismissal without prejudice can be taken where the dismissal has the practical effect of terminating the litigation in the form cast or in the plaintiff’s chosen forum.” Avery Contracting, LLC v. Neihaus, 492 S.W.3d 159, 162 (Mo. banc 2016) (internal quotation omitted).

Douglas and Laura assert the Court must find the circuit court’s dismissal without prejudice is not a final judgment because the petition was dismissed for improper venue and Jenette can refile her suit in the proper venue without changing the allegations. They argue, under section 454.525.3, as interpreted in Wallace v. Wallace, 269 S.W.3d 469, 481 (Mo. App. 2008), the Taney County circuit court lacked jurisdiction over Jenette’s claims. They claim the only circuit courts with jurisdiction over her claims for fraudulent conveyance are those in Clay and Benton counties because the Clay and Benton County judgments produced child support orders. They assert the circuit court dismissed Jenette’s

claims for lack of jurisdiction because they were not filed in the proper circuit court and “a dismissal due to lack of jurisdiction is not a final appealable order.” 4 The Taney County circuit court did not lack jurisdiction over Jenette’s claims, however, so its dismissal could not properly have been a dismissal for lack of jurisdiction. In evaluating the jurisdiction of the circuit courts, this Court has held, “Missouri courts recognize two kinds of jurisdiction: subject matter jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction.” J.C.W. ex rel. Webb v. Wyciskalla, 275 S.W.3d 249, 252 (Mo. banc 2009). In this case, the circuit court had personal jurisdiction over Douglas and Laura and subject matter jurisdiction over the substantive issues in this civil case. Mo. Const. art. V, sec. 14 (“The circuit courts shall have original jurisdiction over all cases and matters, civil and criminal.”). 5 Douglas and Laura rely on section 454.525.3, which provides in part:

Any party owed a support obligation may maintain an action for the purpose of setting aside a fraudulent conveyance by filing an appropriate motion in the cause of action that produced the support order, or if the order was established pursuant to sections 454.440 to 454.510, by filing a petition in the court in which the order was filed pursuant to section 454.490.

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Jenette Konopasek v. Douglas and Laura Konopasek, (Mo. 2023).

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