Richards v. Stuckenberg

478 S.W.2d 405, 1972 Mo. App. LEXIS 888
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 7, 1972
DocketNo. 34049
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 478 S.W.2d 405 (Richards v. Stuckenberg) 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
Richards v. Stuckenberg, 478 S.W.2d 405, 1972 Mo. App. LEXIS 888 (Mo. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

VERNON W. MEYER, Special Judge.

Defendant Jerome W. Sidel, Trustee of the Estate of Rudolph William Stucken-berg, Bankrupt, appeals from an order and judgment of the trial court, entered in a partition suit filed under Chapter 528, RSMo 1969, V.A.M.S.1, allowing an attorney’s fee to counsel for plaintiff. We affirm.

Defendant’s brief in this court presented only one issue. His single “Points and Authorities” reads in its entirety as follows : “The Court Erred in Allowing an Attorney’s Fee to the Attorney for the Plaintiff in a Partition Suit where There Was No Deadlock or Other Reason for Bringing the Partition Suit, and Thus No Common Benefit Was Conferred by Bringing Such Suit.” Necessarily, we limit our decision to a consideration of this point. Pruellage v. DeSeaton Corporation, Mo., 380 S.W.2d 403. We refer only to those parts of the transcript of the record bearing on plaintiff’s Point.

It is undisputed that plaintiff and defendant became owners as tenants in common of certain real estate situated in St. Louis County. Plaintiff was represented by Attorney Charles Rehm and the defendant by Attorney Curtis Mann.

Much correspondence flowed between Rehm and Mann. It need not be detailed. In effect, Mann advised Rehm that the Trustee was anxious to sell his interest in the real estate and asked if plaintiff would like to purchase Trustee’s interest and, if so, for what sum; and if plaintiff was not interested in purchasing Trustee’s interest, would he join in listing the property for sale to the end that the sale proceeds could be divided between plaintiff and Trustee; on being advised by Rehm on August 25, 1969, that he had filed a partition suit, Mann expressed the willingness of the Trustee to participate in a joint listing with a real estate company, to agree to a private sale at an acceptable figure (subject to court approval) and to participate in a public sale (subject to court approval). Mann urged Rehm to consult with plaintiff to learn how the property might be dis[407]*407posed of and agreed to cooperate in every way and welcomed Rehm’s idea with respect to any method he had not thought of; he expressed the view that it was his duty to his client and to the Bankruptcy Court to resist burdening the Bankruptcy estate with the expenses of a partition suit where there did not seem to be any disagreement between the parties.

Rehm responded, in effect, that the action he had taken in filing suit was in his professional opinion in the interests of plaintiff, that plaintiff, an attorney, felt the action was desirable to protect his interest, and that it was Rehm’s professional opinion that they had every right to take the action they did. He further replied that while no good purpose would result from speculation whether the court costs in a partition suit would be greater than the usual ten per cent real estate commission, the former definitely had the advantage of bringing about the ultimate sale of the real estate; and that if, while suit was pending, a mutually satisfactory disposition of the property, or the Trustee’s interest in it, could be made, the suit could be dismissed.

On August 28, 1969, plaintiff filed a suit in partition praying that the partition of the real estate in question be made between the parties plaintiff and defendant, according to their respective interests therein, and, if partition in kind could not be made without great prejudice to the owners, that the same be ordered sold and the proceeds divided among all said parties in proportion and according to their respective interests and for such other and further orders, decrees and relief as to the court seemed meet and proper in the cause.

Thereafter, upon the petition of the Trustee for instructions relating to the pending litigation, the Referee in Bankruptcy authorized the Trustee to enter his appearance in said litigation and to participate in said proceedings for the benefit of the bankruptcy estate; in accordance with such authorization, Trustee filed his separate answer to plaintiff’s petition alleging that the defendant was then and had at all times been willing and able to join in the partition of the real estate in kind; that the defendant was then and had at all times been willing to join in the sale of the real estate in question and the division of the net proceeds of sale, to the end that one-half thereof be paid over to the defendant and the other one-half thereof be paid over to the plaintiff, all subject, however, to the order and approval of the Bankruptcy Court of the Eastern Judicial District of Missouri.

During the course of the trial, the parties stipulated that the real estate in question did not lend itself to partition in kind.

On March 6, 1970, the trial court entered its interlocutory judgment in partition wherein it found the allegations in plaintiff’s petition to be true and that plaintiff and defendant were each entitled to an undivided one-half interest as tenants in common to the real estate in question; it ordered the property sold and the proceeds of the sale, after allowance of all court approved expenses, to be partitioned between the parties according to their respective interests.

On April 23, 1970, the duly appointed Commissioner filed his report of sale.

On April 24, 1970, Rehm filed his claim for attorney’s fees in the sum of $1,400.00 and for allowance of $21.80 for expenses, alleging the sale of the real estate for $29,000.00 and detailing the efforts he expended.

On May 4, 1970, Mann filed an application for attorney’s fees in the sum of $472.00, contending that he brought the partition suit by bringing before the court one of the necessary parties to the action, i. e., the Trustee.

[408]*408On May 18, 1970, a hearing was held on the applications for fees, supplemented by an affidavit filed by Mann on September 28, 1970.

On October 1, 1970, the court entered its order and judgment allowing Rehm as a fee the sum of $1,400.00 and the sum of $21.80 for expenses.

On October 12, 1970, defendant filed a motion for a new trial, complaining of the court’s allowance of a fee and expenses to Rehm and refusing to allow a fee to Mann.

On November 13, 1970, defendant filed his notice of appeal “from the Judgment of October 1, 1970 allowing attorney’s fees of $1,400.00 to the attorney for Plaintiff and from the Order denying Defendant’s motion for a new trial entered on the 4th day of November, 1970.”

Not having been briefed, so much of the trial court’s order and judgment failing to allow Mann an attorney’s fee is considered to have been abandoned. Pruellage v. DeSeaton Corporation, supra, Mo., 380 S.W.2d 403.

The sections of the statutes with which we are concerned are:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
478 S.W.2d 405, 1972 Mo. App. LEXIS 888, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richards-v-stuckenberg-moctapp-1972.