Masonic Temple Ass'n of St. Louis v. Society for Preservation of the Masonic Temple

70 S.W.3d 24, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 170, 2002 WL 104815
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 29, 2002
DocketNo. ED 78945
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 70 S.W.3d 24 (Masonic Temple Ass'n of St. Louis v. Society for Preservation of the Masonic Temple) 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
Masonic Temple Ass'n of St. Louis v. Society for Preservation of the Masonic Temple, 70 S.W.3d 24, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 170, 2002 WL 104815 (Mo. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

ROBERT G. DOWD, JR., Judge.

The Masonic Temple Association of St. Louis (Temple) appeals from the trial court’s dismissal of its petition against The Society for the Preservation of the Masonic Temple a/k/a Compass, Square & Star, Inc. (Society), and the Attorney General. Because we find the dismissal was without prejudice and therefore is not a final judgment, we dismiss the appeal.

The Temple filed a petition against the Society and the Attorney General. The petition included counts for declaratory judgment, appointment of a receiver, injunction, an accounting, and breach of lease contract. The Temple, as legal titleholder and owner of the building, alleged that the Society had a duty to support and maintain the Temple building located at 3861 Lindell Boulevard, the Society had breached that duty, fraud on the part of the Society, and the Society breached a lease contract. The Temple also alleged that a public interest was involved and that the Attorney General represents the public interest by way of filing the petition against the Attorney General.

The Attorney General filed an Answer. The Society filed a Motion to Strike, Motion to Make More Definite and Certain, and Motion to Dismiss. Before the trial court ruled on any of the motions, the Temple filed its First Amended Petition. The trial court deemed the Society’s motion to dismiss for lack of standing and the Attorney General’s Answer to be re-filed as to the First Amended Petition. The parties filed briefs on the issue of whether the Temple had standing. The trial court denied the Society’s motion to dismiss for lack of standing.

After given leave by the trial court, the Temple filed its Second Amended Petition in response to the Society’s Motion to Make More Definite and Certain adding more specifics and deleting the claim for breach of the lease agreement. The Society and Attorney General filed motions to dismiss for lack of standing and failure to state a cause of action based essentially on lack of standing grounds. The trial court granted the motions to dismiss and dismissed the Temple’s Second Amended Petition. This appeal follows.

After the Temple filed its appeal, it filed a letter to the court suggesting this court dismiss the appeal for lack of an appeal-able final judgment. The Temple further argued this issue in its reply brief. The Temple argued that since the trial court’s dismissal was without prejudice, it was not a final judgment. The Society filed a response to the Temple’s lack of final judg[26]*26ment argument asserting the dismissal was final and this court has jurisdiction to hear the appeal. The Attorney General filed a response agreeing with the Temple that the dismissal was not final and this court does not have jurisdiction to hear this appeal. We first turn to this issue to determine whether this court has jurisdiction to hear this appeal.

Initially, we note that the trial court’s dismissal did not indicate whether it was with or without prejudice. A dismissal failing to indicate that it is with prejudice is deemed to be without prejudice. Rule 67.03; Balke v. Ream, 983 S.W.2d 579, 580 (Mo.App. W.D.1998). Therefore, the dismissal of the Temple’s action was without prejudice. The general rule is that a dismissal without prejudice is not a final judgment and therefore cannot be appealed. Osuji v. Missouri Dept. of Social Services, 34 S.W.3d 251, 253 (Mo.App. E.D.2000). An exception to this general rule is that an appeal can be taken where the dismissal has the practical effect of terminating the litigation in the form cast by the plaintiff. Id. If the dismissal was such that re-filing of the petition at that time would have been a futile act, then the order of dismissal is appealable. Doe v. Visionaire Corp., 13 S.W.3d 674, 676 (Mo.App. E.D.2000).

The trial court did not state the basis for its dismissal. Both the Society and Attorney General asserted in their motions to dismiss that the Temple lacked standing and it failed to state a cause of action upon which relief may be granted essentially based on lack of standing grounds. We now examine whether the Temple may cure the dismissal by filing another suit or whether the dismissal had the practical effect of terminating the Temple’s action.

On the issue of standing, we find the dismissal did not have the practical effect of terminating the action. Although a dismissal without prejudice based on lack of standing has been held to have the practical effect of prohibiting the plaintiffs from filing another action, we do not find this is one of those situations. Siefert v. Leonhardt, 975 S.W.2d 489 (Mo.App. E.D.1998).

The standing issue arises from the petition’s intertwinement of allegations of injury to the Temple’s special interest and injury to the public interest. The Society argues the proper party to bring an action against a charitable corporation for any injury to the general public is the Attorney General, and therefore, the Temple lacks standing to bring the cause of action. We agree with the Society, as does the Temple, that the Attorney General is the proper party to bring an action against a charitable corporation for any injury to the general public as a result of improper solicitations and failure to carry out its charitable purpose. State of Missouri ex rel. Central Institute for the Deaf et al. v. Burger, 949 S.W.2d 126 (Mo.App. E.D.1997). Here, however, it appears the Temple can allege a special interest in the charitable corporation and may have suffered an injury to that special interest from the Society’s alleged failure to maintain the Temple building that is different from or conflicts with the injury to the public interest. See German Evangelical St. Marcus Congregation of St. Louis v. Archambault, 404 S.W.2d 705, 707 (Mo.1966). The purpose stated in the Society’s articles of incorporation provides as follows:

Said corporation is organized exclusively for charitable, religious, educational, and scientific purposes, including for such purposes, the making of distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (or the corresponding provision of any future [27]*27United States Internal Revenue Law), and to promote an appreciation of history by the acquisition, restoration, maintenance, and preservation of The Masonic Temple, 3861 Lindell Boulevard, in the City of St. Louis, State of Missouri.

The Society’s articles of incorporation give the Temple a special interest in the charitable organization. Thus, we reject the Society’s argument that the Temple does not have standing to bring a cause of action for injury to its special interests. If the Temple chose to file another petition pleading only injury to its special interests, which are different from and conflicting with any claims of injury to the general public, it would have standing to do so.

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70 S.W.3d 24, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 170, 2002 WL 104815, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/masonic-temple-assn-of-st-louis-v-society-for-preservation-of-the-moctapp-2002.