Missouri Federation of the Blind v. National Federation of the Blind of Missouri, Inc.

546 S.W.2d 182, 1976 Mo. App. LEXIS 2303
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 27, 1976
DocketNo. KCD 28416
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 546 S.W.2d 182 (Missouri Federation of the Blind v. National Federation of the Blind of Missouri, Inc.) 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
Missouri Federation of the Blind v. National Federation of the Blind of Missouri, Inc., 546 S.W.2d 182, 1976 Mo. App. LEXIS 2303 (Mo. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

DIXON, Judge.

An appeal from a judgment of civil contempt. The original suit was between plaintiff Missouri Federation of the Blind and National Federation of the Blind of Missouri, Inc. In this litigation, the National Federation of the Blind, Inc., a District of Columbia corporation, intervened. An injunction was issued by the circuit court which enjoined defendant from the use of the name National Federation of the Blind of Missouri, Inc. The earlier trial court action was affirmed by this court in an opinion reported in 505 S.W.2d 1. After the mandate issued, the name of defendant was changed to National Federation of the Blind. This appeal arises from the plaintiff’s motion for and an order to show cause why defendant should not be held in contempt. The trial court found the defendant guilty of contempt of its prior injunctive order. The portion of the decretal language in the injunction pertinent to the issues on this appeal is as follows:

“IT IS ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that defendant ... be perpetually enjoined and restrained . . .(c) that defendant be permanently enjoined from using any combination of the following words: Missouri, Federation, and Blind, unless defendant wishes to revert to the use of its prior name, The Progressive Blind of Missouri.”

The trial court levied a fine which was prospective in nature accumulating on a [184]*184daily basis upon the continuance of the use of the name the defendant sought to use. A stay was issued and a variety of issues are posed as to the propriety of the fine and the stay which need not be decided if, upon the primary contention of the defendant, it is determined that the injunction has not been violated.

That primary issue of the fact of a violation of the injunction is upon two grounds. The defendant and the defendant interve-nor, which continues as a party and an appellant, without objection, contend first that the trial court erred in its construction of Section 417.150(2) RSMo 1969. The argument is that the defendant intervenor, The National Federation of the Blind, Inc., has a prior right in the use of that name and the finding of the trial court that the defendant, an “affiliate” and “member,” can be denied the permissive use of the intervenor’s name because it is a separate corporation is in error.

The plaintiff makes no response in its brief to this point, and so this court is without benefit of the views of the plaintiff with respect to the assertion. The statute in question in relevant part is as follows:

“In all cases where two or more such corporations . . . claim the right to the same name or names substantially similar . . . , the organization which was first organized and used the name and first became incorporated . . . under the laws of the United States or of any state . shall be entitled in this state to the prior and exclusive use of such name, and the rights of such . . . corporations and of individual members shall be fixed and determined accordingly.” Section 417.150(2) RSMo 1969.

The thrust of the contention is that the last phrase “and the rights of said societies, associations, corporations or organizations and of their individual members shall be fixed and determined accordingly,” gives rise to a right in the defendant to the use of this name as a “member” of the National Federation of the Blind. The defendant here, upon the stipulated facts in the prior appeal, was an affiliate and integral part of the National Federation of the Blind, Inc. and its members were members of the in-tervenor.

The pertinent portions of the stipulation are:

“7. That the NFB is composed of 45 affiliated organizations known as the state affiliates and its members consist of the members of each such affiliated organization and other blind persons; .
“8. That since the date of its incorporation to the date hereof, the NFB has used its corporate name, ... to identify itself, and certain of its affiliates and the members thereof. That continuously since its incorporation, the NFB is and has been the sole and exclusive owner of and solely and exclusively entitled to use said name, . . . .”

The exhibits in the record relating to the incorporation of the intervenor also refer to the status of affiliates. The original certificate of incorporation of the National Federation of the Blind filed in the District of Columbia in 1949 provided among the objects of the corporation were “to accept into fraternal membership blind individuals and affiliate organizations composed of and controlled by the blind.” The constitution of the National Federation of the Blind, Incorporated, provides for a definition of affiliates and admission to membership in the Federation and provides for the casting of the vote of a state by its affiliate member in the national organization.

The prior opinion dealt with a different issue as to the same statute (505 S.W.2d at 8-10).

There the National Federation of the Blind, Inc., which was organized as a District of Columbia corporation in 1949, intervened. The intervenor sought in that earlier litigation to prevent the present plaintiff from utilizing the name, Missouri Federation of the Blind, as being an improper simulation of intervenor’s name and viola-tive of Section 417.150(2) which intervenor claimed gave it protection of its admittedly [185]*185prior use. The prior opinion, tacitly assuming that the statute protected intervenor and assuming likewise that the similarity was sufficient to confuse, held that the intervenor had been guilty of laches which barred it from claiming the protection of the statute.

A different aspect of that statute is presented on this appeal. In this case, defendant claims that it is a member of the National Federation of the Blind, interve-nor in the prior case, and that as a “member” is entitled to the protection of the statute as to use of the name.

In view of the broadness of that claim, however, it need not be decided that the defendant’s use of the name National Federation of the Blind is authorized by reason of Section 417.150, although it seems clear that the trial court erroneously concluded that the mere fact of separate incorporation would deny such a result. Organizations on a national basis might be corporate in character and be composed entirely of corporate members whether such corporate members were geographically identified by states or simply were members of similarly situated enterprises. Thus, most trade associations would consist of a parent corporation to which a wide variety of corporations might belong.

In any event, the holding in the pri- or opinion that the National Federation of the Blind could not successfully prohibit the plaintiff’s use of its corporate name does not require a holding here that the National Federation of the Blind be barred from permitting the use of its name by another organization. To hold that it was barred by our prior opinion from doing so would do more than protect the Missouri Federation of the Blind in the use of its name; it would permit the Missouri Federation of the Blind to impinge upon the right of the National Federation of the Blind to the use of that name in Missouri. In different circumstances, it might be necessary to reach or decide the question of the meaning of the words “individual members” in subsection 2.

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Bluebook (online)
546 S.W.2d 182, 1976 Mo. App. LEXIS 2303, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/missouri-federation-of-the-blind-v-national-federation-of-the-blind-of-moctapp-1976.