State ex rel. Allen v. Guthrie

149 S.W. 305, 245 Mo. 144, 1912 Mo. LEXIS 222
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJuly 2, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 149 S.W. 305 (State ex rel. Allen v. Guthrie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Allen v. Guthrie, 149 S.W. 305, 245 Mo. 144, 1912 Mo. LEXIS 222 (Mo. 1912).

Opinion

KENNISH, J.-

— This is an original proceeding by prohibition. Isabell Allen and Edward Allen are the relators, and Joseph A. Guthrie, judge of the circuit court of Jackson county, is the respondent. The purpose of the suit is to have this court prohibit the respondent, as judge of the said court, from taking further cognizance and exercising jurisdiction in a certain cause referred to and described in the petition. Upon presentation of the petition a preliminary rule was granted. The respondent in due time made return thereto, whereupon relators filed a reply, and upon the issues thus made the cause was argued and submitted for judgment.

Much confusion and uncertainty exist as to the issues made by the pleadings. This condition of the record is due to the failure of the relators to state, fully and clearly in their petition the facts relied upon, [148]*148and also because of tbeir failure to observe the uniform practice of filing, as an exhibit and as a part of their petition, the pleadings in the cause sought to be prohibited.

The facts stated in the petition for prohibition, briefly, are that in a certain suit theretofore pending in the circuit court of Jackson county, in which Oscar W. Ditseh, by guardian, was plaintiff, and relators and Mollie C. James were defendants, the court, in accordance with the prayer of the petition, annulled and set aside a deed to real estate described therein, executed and delivered by the plaintiff Ditseh to the defendant Isabell Allen, and also annulled and set aside a deed to real estate described therein, executed and delivered by the plaintiff Ditseh to the defendant Isabell Allen, and also annulled and set aside a certain deed executed and delivered by the defendant Mollie C. James to the said Isabell Allen, conveying certain residence property located in Kansas City. In the decree entered the court adjudged, among other things, that the defendant Mollie C. James was entitled to the residence property theretofore conveyed to Isabell Allen, and to the possession thereof, and also rendered a personal judgment against -the said Isabell Allen and Edward Allen, in favor of the said Mollie C. James, for the sum of $3500, the same to be a lien, until paid on a certain manufacturing business belonging to the said Allens in said city. The defendants (relators herein) and the defendant Mollie C. James appealed from the said judgment to the Kansas City Court of Appeals. That court transferred the cause to this court, upon a .question of appellate jurisdiction, and it is now pending and undisposed of in this court. It is further alleged in the petition for prohibition that a supersedeas bond was given by appellants Isabell Allen and Edward Allen in said cause, in the sum of $7000 and that afterwards the said Mollie C. James appeared in the said circuit court “and [149]*149asked the court to appoint a receiver to take charge of said real estate during the pendency of the suit.” That the appointment of a receiver was asked upon the sole ground that the security upon the said bond was insufficient and that the appeal was taken to the Court of Appeals instead of'to this court. That after considering the application the respondent decided to appoint a receiver as prayed, and that respondent, as said circuit judge, is without jurisdiction to make such appointment. The prayer of the petition is that a writ of prohibition be issued ‘ ‘ directing the said judge to show cause why he should not be prohibited from exercising jurisdiction in the cause now pending in this court,” etc.

Upon the petition thus filed a preliminary rule was granted by this court and served upon respondent, together with a copy of the • petition. The rule, omitting formal parts, was as follows:

THE STATE OF MISSOURI, to Joseph A. Guthrie, as Judge of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, greeting:
Whereas, on the 17th day of January, 1912, it was represented to the Supreme Court of Missouri, in a certain application for a writ of prohibition (a copy of which petition is hereto attached) that you, the said Joseph A. Guthrie, as Judge of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, hold cognizance in a certain cause pending before you wherein Oscar Ditsch is plaintiff and Isabell Allen et al. are defendants; and we, being willing to maintain the rights of the State and the laws and customs thereof;
“Now, therefore, you, the said Joseph A. Guthrie, as Judge of the Circuit Court' of Jackson County, Missouri, are hereby commanded to be and appear before the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, In Bane, on the first day 'of March, 1912, and show cause, if any you have, why a writ of prohibition should not issue as prayed in the petition herein, prohibiting you from further assuming and exercising jurisdiction in the cause aforesaid, and that in the meantime you take no further action in the said cause until the further order of this court.

In his return respondent alleges that he “does not hold any cognizance whatsoever in the cause wherein Oscar Ditsch is plaintiff and Isabell Allen et al. are defendants, being the cause described in the preliminary rule,” and further that “in said cause neither he as judge, nor the circuit court of Jackson [150]*150county, Missouri, contemplates the appointment of a receiver of the real estate described in the relators’ petition, nor has there been any application made in said cause by said Mollie C. James or anyone else, for the appointment of any receiver of the real estate described in the relators’ petition.”

The reply consists of a paragraph in the nature of a demurrer to the return and a prayer that the peremptory writ be issued; also three additional paragraphs which are merely a restatement, in different language, of the matters alleged in the petition.

The statute applicable in such cases (Sec. 2626, R. S. 1909) authorizes the defendant to demur to the petition for prohibition or “make return to the preliminary order.” In this case the respondent made return to the preliminary order, which return, so far as material, denied that he had exercised or contemplated exercising jurisdiction in the cause described in the preliminary rule. This return is responsive to the rule of this court and presented an issue of fact.There was no affirmative defense alleged in the return requiring a denial or the allegation of new matter in the reply. Consequently we shall treat the case as being at issue upon the first paragraph of the reply, which is as follows:

“Now come the relators, and for their answer or reply to the return of the respondent, state: First, that the respondent has not complied with the rule of this court) in that he has made no proper return, showing any legal justification for his acts in the premises; nor has he complied with the rule served upon him, whereby relators are entitled to a peremptory writ. ’ ’

It is apparent that the cause in which it was represented to this court that the respondent held cognizance and in which the preliminary rule commanded the respondent to appear in this court and show cause why a writ of prohibition should not be issued, prohibiting him from assuming and exercising jurisdiction [151]*151therein, and in' the meantime commanding him to take no further action, was the cause, as stated in the preliminary rule, “wherein Oscar Ditsch is plaintiff and Isahell Allen et al.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
149 S.W. 305, 245 Mo. 144, 1912 Mo. LEXIS 222, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-allen-v-guthrie-mo-1912.