Masonic Temple Ass'n of St. Louis v. Victor

561 S.W.2d 427, 1977 Mo. App. LEXIS 2389
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 29, 1977
DocketNo. 37649
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 561 S.W.2d 427 (Masonic Temple Ass'n of St. Louis v. Victor) 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.

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Masonic Temple Ass'n of St. Louis v. Victor, 561 S.W.2d 427, 1977 Mo. App. LEXIS 2389 (Mo. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

KELLY, Judge.

This appeal from the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis presents the single question whether the trial court erred in sustaining the defendants-respondents’ Motions for Summary Judgment. Because we conclude that the trial court did so err, we reverse the judgment and remand the cause to the trial court for further proceedings in accord with our holding herein.

Following are the facts gleaned from the record on appeal.

Plaintiff (as appellant, Masonic Temple Association of St. Louis shall hereinafter be identified) is a not for profit corporation incorporated pursuant to the authority of Article 10, Chapter 33 RSMo. 1909, by a decree of the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis of September 15, 1917, for the purpose of financing, locating erecting, building, establishing, equipping, maintaining and operating a Masonic Temple in the City of St. Louis.

The defendants-respondents are two Lodges of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons — St. Louis Lodge No. 20 and Aurora Lodge No. 267 — and 22 individuals who are members of the two Lodges, 11 from each, as representatives of their respective lodge membership, as a class. Both of the Lodges are unincorporated associations. At the time of the filing of the petition there were approximately 500 members of the St. Louis Lodge No. 20 and 200 members of the Aurora Lodge No. 267.

Prior to the incorporation of the plaintiff a number of Lodges of the Masonic Order held their meetings in a Temple on Grand Avenue in the City of St. Louis. Desirous of erecting a new Temple, representatives of both of these Lodges, together with representatives of 18 other Lodges and two Chapters of the Eastern Star, referred to in the plaintiff’s petition as “Original Members,” entered into what is identified as the “Temple Basic Contract,” wherein the signatories recommended the erection of a Masonic Temple for Masonic purposes only and for the use of the several Masonic bodies and Eastern Star Chapters then meeting at the Grand Avenue Masonic Temple. This Contract provided a method of raising the funds for erection of the new Temple, the amount of contribution thereto by each signatory on a per capita basis, and the time schedule for payment of said contributions. Provision was made in the Contract that each contributing body should also pay its [429]*429proportionate share toward the “upkeep” of the Temple, said share to be set by the board of directors of the proposed corporation to be incorporated pursuant to the law governing the organization of Benevolent, Religious, etc. corporations for the purpose of financing, locating, building, establishing, maintaining and operating the proposed new Temple, which would be named “The Masonic Temple Association of St. Louis.”

After plaintiff was incorporated it proceeded to erect the new Temple and upon completion thereof, sometime in 1926, these defendants and the other original members who were parties to the Temple Basic Contract, in accord with the Contract, the Articles of Agreement and the By-Laws of the plaintiff, became active members of the plaintiff Association entitled to the use of the new Temple premises for the purpose of Masonic activities only and also became liable for payment of their share of the cost of the erection and upkeep of the Temple as determined by the board of directors of the plaintiff Association.

The defendants commenced holding their meetings in the new Temple once it was opened in 1926 and paid in full their contribution to the erection of the Temple in accordance with the terms of the Temple Basic Contract, the Articles of Agreement, and the By-Laws of the plaintiff. During the period these defendants enjoyed the use of the new Temple they also enjoyed the privileges of membership in the plaintiff Association and, through their representatives on the plaintiff’s board of directors, who were duly elected by the members of said unincorporated associations, actively participated in the management of the plaintiff Association. So long as these defendants continued holding their meetings in the new Temple they also paid their respective per capita share of the cost of “upkeep” of the Temple as determined by the board of directors of the Association.

In the period between the occupancy of the new Temple and the filing of the petition in this cause, 18 “New Members” have joined the plaintiff Association and have taken advantage of the privileges of membership therein, so that when the petition in this case was filed there were 39 active members in plaintiff Association.

On September 10, 1957, the By-Laws of the plaintiff Association were amended and the definition of “upkeep” as that term was used in the Temple Basic Contract and the By-Laws of the Association prior thereto, was changed to include (1) the cost of maintenance, and (2) interest charges and amortization of any debt then or thereafter placed on the Temple and to require that each active member should be charged for all such items of upkeep on a fixed and uniform basis, to be determined by the privileges accorded such active member.

Sometime in December, 1960, one of the original members of the plaintiff Association — West Gate Lodge No. 445 — withdrew from membership in the Association and refused to pay its share of the upkeep of the Temple accruing after termination of its membership. This precipitated litigation which culminated in a decision of this court, Masonic Temple Association of St. Louis v. Farrar, Mo.App., 422 S.W.2d 95 (1967).1 In the Farrar case this court held that the plaintiff, having voluntarily submitted the controversy with the West Gate Lodge No. 445, to two state fraternal society committees of the Grand Lodge of the Masonic Order had thereby entered into common law arbitration and was conclusively bound by the arbitration award declaring that the Lodge and its membership could unilaterally withdraw from membership in plaintiff Association and could not thereafter be required to pay its share of the upkeep of the Temple.

Thereafter, on or about July 9, 1971, defendant St. Louis Lodge No. 20 (hereinafter, St. Louis) notified the plaintiff Association that its members had voted to move from the Temple and from that time forward it did not participate in the active management of the plaintiff nor pay the [430]*430periodic statements rendered it by the plaintiff for payment of its pro rata share of the upkeep of the Temple.

On or about April 1, 1972, Aurora Lodge No. 267 (hereinafter, Aurora) likewise notified the plaintiff that its members too had voted to move from the Temple no later than April 30, 1972. Aurora did move out of the Temple on or before April 30, 1972, and did not thereafter participate in the active management of the Temple Association nor pay the periodic statements rendered it by the plaintiff for the upkeep of the Temple.

Neither St. Louis nor Aurora had the consent of any of the members of the plaintiff Association to withdraw from same nor to terminate the payment of their proportionate share of the cost of upkeep of the Temple after they had withdrawn from the plaintiff Association. Despite repeated demands that each of these Lodges remit their respective payments for the upkeep of the Temple following their withdrawal from the plaintiff Association, they have both continued to refuse to pay same.

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561 S.W.2d 427, 1977 Mo. App. LEXIS 2389, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/masonic-temple-assn-of-st-louis-v-victor-moctapp-1977.