Parker v. Bruner

683 S.W.2d 265, 1985 Mo. LEXIS 233

• Court: Supreme Court of Missouri
• Decided: January 15, 1985
• Docket: 66205
• Status: Published

Opinions

PER CURIAM:

This cause was certified to this Court, under Rule 83.01 by a dissenting judge in the Southern District of the Court of Appeals. The certifying judge deems the principal opinion in the Court of Appeals contrary to the decisions in Greco v. Anderson, 615 S.W.2d 429 (Mo.App.1980) and Breece v. Jett, 556 S.W.2d 696 (Mo.App.1977). He believes Greco and Breece “require proof of seduction by clear, cogent, and convincing evidence * * * [and] that the majority opinion does not require such proof.”

In Greco, there is no mention of the burden of proof required in a seduction case. In Breece, the mention of the required burden of proof is obiter dictum and not authority as a precedent in Missouri. “There is no doctrine better settled than that the language of judicial decisions must be construed with reference to the facts and issues of the particular case, and that the authority of the decision as a precedent is limited to those points of law which are raised by the record, considered by the court, and necessary to a decision.” State ex rel. Baker v. Goodman, 364 Mo. 1202, 1212, 274 S.W.2d 293, 297 (banc 1954).

The opinion of the Court of Appeals is not contrary to any previous decision of another appellate court of this State and we are not obliged to retain this cause.

Accordingly, the cause is retransferred to the Southern District of the Court of Appeals. See Morris v. Granger, 675 S.W.2d 15 (Mo. banc 1984).

RENDLEN, C.J., and HIGGINS, GUNN, BLACKMAR and DONNELLY, JJ., concur. LOWENSTEIN, Sp. J., concurs in result in separate opinion filed. WELLIVER, J., dissents in separate opinion filed. BILLINGS, J., not sitting.