State ex rel. Drury Displays, Inc. v. City of Columbia

907 S.W.2d 252, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 1631, 1995 WL 563550
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 26, 1995
DocketNo. WD 50365
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 907 S.W.2d 252 (State ex rel. Drury Displays, Inc. v. City of Columbia) 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
State ex rel. Drury Displays, Inc. v. City of Columbia, 907 S.W.2d 252, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 1631, 1995 WL 563550 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

BRECKENRIDGE, Judge.

The City of Columbia, Missouri, and the City’s Board of Adjustment1 appeal from a judgment declaring that a City ordinance prohibiting the erection of new off-premises billboards is void. The City contends that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to consider the declaratory judgment claim, and that the ordinance is not void because it does not conflict with the Missouri Billboards Act, §§ 226.500 to 226.600, RSMo 1994.2

The Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission issued a permit to Drury Displays, Inc., to erect a billboard along Interstate 70. Drury then applied to the City for a permit to erect the sign. The application was denied on the basis of § 23-2(i) of the City’s Code of Ordinances, which prohibits the erection of new off-premises billboards. Drury appealed to the Board of Adjustment, which denied relief.

Drury then filed a two-count petition which challenged both the decision of the Board and the legality of the ordinance. Count I [254]*254requested review of the Board’s decision by its petition for a writ of certiorari pursuant to § 89.110. Count II sought a declaratory judgment that § 23-2(i) of the City Code was void because it was in conflict with the Missouri Billboards Act.

The City filed a motion to dismiss Count II of the petition, claiming that Count I invoked only the limited jurisdiction of the trial court, and therefore the court lacked authority to also issue a declaratory judgment. The parties filed briefs addressing whether certiorari was the appropriate vehicle to resolve the case and whether a declaratory judgment claim was necessary; whether certiorari and declaratory judgment could be pleaded in the same petition; and whether the ordinance was void because it was in conflict with the Missouri Billboards Act. After oral argument, the trial court then entered the following judgment:

The court, being of the opinion that writ of certiorari is an inappropriate and inadequate remedy for examining the underlying ordinance upon which the Board of Adjustment has based its decision, finds in favor of Respondent Board of Adjustment and against Relator on Count I. Motion to dismiss Count II is denied. The court, finding that Section 23—2(i) of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Columbia, Missouri, conflicts with Section 226.50 et seq of the Revised Statutes of MO (a/k/a the Billboard Act) determines said ordinance is void. National Advertising Company v. Missouri State Highway and Transportation Commission and the City of St. Louis, 862 S.W.2d 953 (Mo.App.E.D.1993). Judgment on Count II is entered in favor of Drury Displays, Inc., and against the City of Columbia. Costs taxed against City of Columbia.

In its first point on appeal, the City claims that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to consider Count II of Drury’s petition. Therefore, the City contends, the trial court erred by failing to grant its motion to dismiss Count II.

The City’s jurisdictional argument is based upon the fact that Count II was brought in the same petition as a count seeking to engage the trial court in a special statutory mode of judicial review under § 89.110. The City claims that the petition’s request for relief under § 89.110 only invoked the limited jurisdiction of the trial court, and therefore the trial court was not authorized to exercise its plenary jurisdiction in considering a declaratory judgment claim.

In support of its contention, the City cites the following language from this Court’s opinion in Deffenbaugh Industries, Inc. v. Potts, 802 S.W.2d 520, 522 (Mo.App.1990):

The circuit court, although a court of general jurisdiction, exercises special powers confided by special statutes when it undertakes judicial review of a final administrative decision in a contested case under §§ 536.100 to 536.140. It can take cognizance of only those matters invested, so that its power to adjudicate is to the extent of the grant of the statute. The special statute defines the right as well as the remedy, so that a grant of relief beyond the authority of the statute is only pretense and without effect. A judgment of a circuit court under §§ 536.100 to 536.140, therefore, is an adjudication of a court of limited jurisdiction.

(Citations omitted). This rule also applies to an action for judicial review under § 89.110, as the Deffenbaugh court made clear by citing the rule in reference to an action which the court treated as one for remedy under § 89.110. Id.

The Deffenbaugh court indicated that it is a legal nullity for a trial court to exercise both its limited statutory jurisdiction and its general plenary jurisdiction in the same proceeding. Id. However, this rule was expressed in a case where judicial review was an appropriate vehicle to challenge the administrative decision, and where the trial court actually engaged in the exercise of its special statutory power of review and proceeded to rule on the merits of the administrative decision. The question before this court is whether the same rule applies when the trial court refuses to invoke its limited statutory jurisdiction because judicial review as authorized by statute is an inappropriate vehicle for relief from the administrative action being challenged.

[255]*255The error in Deffenbaugh did not arise because a party plead both certiorari and declaratory judgment in a petition, as Drury did in the case at bar. Rather the trial court’s error was a result of the fact it had proceeded to a judgment on the merits on both the certiorari and declaratory judgment counts. Id. It is the responsibility of the trial court to proceed with only one of those two counts. Here, the trial court carried out this responsibility, unlike the trial court in Deffenbaugh.

In the case at bar, the trial court was correct in its conclusion that a writ of certio-rari under § 89.110 was inappropriate. A challenge to the validity of an ordinance is a challenge of an exercise of a legislative function, and certiorari does not lie to review the exercise of legislative power. Allen v. Coffel, 488 S.W.2d 671, 673 (Mo.App.1972). The trial court’s conclusion that certiorari was inappropriate in this case was, in essence, an acknowledgement that the trial court lacked the limited jurisdiction bestowed by § 89.110 to exercise judicial review by means of a writ of certiorari, considering the issues raised in this case. Because the trial court did not exercise its limited jurisdiction of special statutory review bestowed by § 89.110, there was no conflict with its exercise of general plenary jurisdiction in considering a count for declaratory judgment. The City’s first point on appeal is denied.

In its second point on appeal, the City claims that the trial court erred by ruling prematurely on the merits of Count II of Drury’s petition, which sought a declaratory judgment that § 23-2(i) of the City Code was void because it was in conflict with the Missouri Billboards Act. The City contends that it was not given a full and fair opportunity to defend the validity of the ordinance before it was held void by the trial court.

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Bluebook (online)
907 S.W.2d 252, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 1631, 1995 WL 563550, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-drury-displays-inc-v-city-of-columbia-moctapp-1995.