Schnuck Markets, Inc. v. City of Bridgeton

895 S.W.2d 163, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 201, 1995 WL 46723
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 7, 1995
Docket66183
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 895 S.W.2d 163 (Schnuck Markets, Inc. v. City of Bridgeton) 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
Schnuck Markets, Inc. v. City of Bridgeton, 895 S.W.2d 163, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 201, 1995 WL 46723 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

AHRENS, Presiding Judge.

Plaintiff Schnuck Markets, Inc., (Schnucks) challenges the validity of a municipal ordinance of Bridgeton which forbids the operation of engines or compressors on stationary trucks within one thousand feet of an occupied residential structure at night. The trial court granted Bridgeton’s motion for summary judgment against Schnucks. We affirm in part and reverse and remand in part.

When considering appeals from summary judgments, we review the record in the light most favorable to the party against whom judgment was entered. ITT Commercial Finance Corp. v. Mid-America Marine Supply Corp., 854 S.W.2d 371, 376 (Mo. banc 1993). Facts set forth by affidavit or otherwise in support of a party’s motion are taken as true unless contradicted by the non-moving party’s response to the summary judgment motion. Id. We accord the non-movant the benefit of all reasonable inferences from the record. Id.

Schnucks owns and operates an office and warehouse complex located in Bridgeton. For a number of years, Schnucks has used its privately owned parking lot at the complex for overnight parking of refrigerated trucks carrying perishables.

In 1985, Bridgeton Ordinance No. 85-17 was enacted to prohibit nighttime operation of truck engines and compressors near inhabited residential homes. In 1987, Schnucks sought to expand its complex in Bridgeton with plans to expand the parking lot. After applying to Bridgeton for the proper building permits, several meetings were held between both parties, and the permits were issued in September, 1987. Schnucks expended over four million dollars in the expansion of the complex and over $25,000.00 to complete the parking lot addition.

On July 6, 1988, Bridgeton enacted ordinance § 325.050, which repealed ordinance 85-17, but which reenacted the prohibition against nighttime operation of truck engines and compressors near inhabited residential areas. Bridgeton Ordinance § 325.050(A)(3) for “On-Street Parking or Storage” provides:

*165 It shall be unlawful for any vehicle operator, or the owner of any property upon which said vehicle is parked, or the property owner’s agent, to cause, allow, or permit any refrigeration compressor, motor, or other refrigeration equipment or any vehicular engine on any truck, trailer, tractor, tractor-trailer or other commercial vehicle, except in emergencies, to run or operate while any such vehicle is parked or placed within one thousand (1,000) feet of an occupied residential structure between the hours of 8:00 P.M. in the evening to 8:00 A.M. the following day.

Bridgeton Ordinance § 325.050(B)(4) for “Off-Street Parking or Storage” provides:

No semi-truck tractor or semi-trailer shall be permitted to be stored in any off-street parking area unless in a loading or an unloading area, or in a motel-hotel lot when its owner or driver is registered as a guest; provided however, it shall be unlawful for any vehicle operator, or the owner of any property upon which said vehicle is parked, or the property owner’s agent, to cause, allow, or permit any refrigeration compressor, motor, or other refrigeration equipment or any vehicular engine, or any truck, trailer, tractor, tractor-trailer other commercial vehicle, to run or operate while any such vehicle is parked or placed within one thousand (1,000) feet of an occupied residential structure between the hours of 8:00 P.M. in the evening to 8:00 A.M. the following day.

On April 16, 1992, Bridgeton police served Schnucks with a complaint and summons. Schnucks was cited with a violation of Bridgeton Ordinance § 325.050 Section 3, 1 for operating refrigerated trucks during the nighttime at their complex parking lot within 1,000 feet of occupied residential structures. The trial for the alleged violation has been stayed by mutual agreement of the parties pending a resolution of the claims here.

On November 13,1992, Schnucks filed this action contesting the validity of the ordinance, for declaratory and injunctive relief and for damages. In Count I, Schnucks asserted a claim of equitable estoppel against Bridgeton. 2 In Count II, Schnucks claims that the enforcement of the ordinance as applied to Schnucks is unreasonable, arbitrary, and confiscatory, and thus constitutes a deprivation of due process under the United States Constitution. Count III is a claim of inverse condemnation. On a motion by Bridgeton, the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Bridgeton and against Schnucks on all counts of Sehnucks’s amended petition.

Our review is essentially de novo. The criteria on appeal for testing the propriety of summary judgment are no different from those which should be employed by the trial court to determine the propriety of sustaining the motion initially. ITT, 854 S.W.2d at 376. Since the propriety of summary judgment is purely an issue of law, we need not defer to the trial court’s order granting summary judgment. Id.

Summary judgment is appropriate where the moving party has demonstrated, on the basis of facts as to which there is no genuine dispute, a right to judgment as a matter of law. Id.; Rule 74.04. In order to make a prima facie showing that summary judgment is proper, a defending party may “establish a right to judgment by showing (1) facts that negate any one of the claimant’s elements facts, (2) that the non-movant, after an adequate period of discovery, has not been able to produce, and will not be able to produce evidence sufficient to allow the trier of fact to find the existence of any one of the claimant’s elements, or (3) that there is no genuine dispute as to the existence of each of the facts necessary to support the movant’s properly-pleaded affirmative defense.” ITT, 854 S.W.2d at 381. When the movant makes a prima facie showing that there are no genuine issues of material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of *166 law, “an adverse party may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of his pleading, but his response, by affidavits or otherwise ... shall set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” Id.; Rule 74.04(e). The non-movant need only show that there is a genuine dispute as to the facts underlying the movant’s right to judgment. ITT, 854 S.W.2d at 382. A “genuine issue” exists where the record contains competent materials that evidence two plausible, but contradictory, accounts of at least one of the essential facts. Id.

In its first point on appeal, Schnucks contends that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment on Count II. Schnucks claims that genuine issues of material fact remain in dispute as to whether the enforcement of the ordinance against Schnucks is unreasonable, arbitrary and confiscatory, and thus a violation of Schnucks’s due process rights under the Fourteen Amendment of the United States Constitution. 3

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Bluebook (online)
895 S.W.2d 163, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 201, 1995 WL 46723, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schnuck-markets-inc-v-city-of-bridgeton-moctapp-1995.