U.S. Bank, N.A. v. Coverdell

483 S.W.3d 390, 2015 Mo. App. LEXIS 1113, 2015 WL 7251405
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 30, 2015
DocketNos. SD 32844, SD 32845, SD 32934, and SD 32935
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 483 S.W.3d 390 (U.S. Bank, N.A. v. Coverdell) 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
U.S. Bank, N.A. v. Coverdell, 483 S.W.3d 390, 2015 Mo. App. LEXIS 1113, 2015 WL 7251405 (Mo. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

DON E. BURRELL, J.

OPINION AUTHOR

This consolidated opinion addresses four separate appeals stemming from summary judgments granted in a lawsuit filed in 2011 to quiet title to real estate located in the Branson Landing subdivision (“the 2011 case”).1 The appeals are brought by [392]*392Defendants Douglas L. Coverdell (“Cover-dell”) and Coverdell Enterprises, Inc. (“CEI”) (collectively, “Appellants”), and these appeals are related to two other appeals brought by Appellants arising out of another lawsuit filed in 2003 (“the 2003 case”). That case also involved land located in the Branson Landing subdivision, and our opinion deciding those consolidated appeals is being issued this-same date. See Empire District Electric Company v. Coverdell, 484 S.W.3d 1 (Mo.App.S.D. 2015) (“Empire II’).2 We hold in Empire II that the trial court committed prejudicial error when it dismissed with prejudice Coverdell’s adverse possession claim in the 2003 case. As a result, that opinion reverses three summary judgments and remands the case for further proceedings consistent with the opinion. Id. at 5.

We also reverse three summary‘judgments entered in this case, but we do so for a different reason. The reason the summary judgments entered in the instant case must be reversed is that this case should not have proceeded while the 2003 case remained unresolved. We therefore remand the matter with a direction that the trial court stay these proceedings pending a final resolution of the 2003 case.

Overview of Claims and Challenged Judgments

Plaintiffs Arvest Bank (“Arvest”) and U.S. Bank (collectively, “Lienholders”); Defendants HCW Development Company, LLC (“HCW Development”), HCW Private Development, LLC (“HCW Private”), and HCW North, LLC (“HCW North” and these defendants, collectively, “HCW Entities”); and two intervenors, the City of Branson (“Branson”) and the Empire District Electric Company (“Empire”), have all filed briefs and will be referred to collectively as “Respondents.”3

[393]*393Lienholders filed this case after the 2010 judgment was entered in the 2003 case and while the appeal of that judgment was pending before this court. See Empire I, 344 S.W.3d at 844. After multiple amendments had been made to the petition in the instant case, U.S. Bank ultimately sought to quiet title, based upon deeds or, alternatively, adverse possession, in Branson as to Lots 1 and 4 and in Empire as to Lots 3 and 6.4 U.S. Bank also sought declarations, inter alia, that: (1) the lease by Branson as to Lot 6 .and the sublease by. HCW Private as to land we will refer to as “Retail Tract” were valid;5 (2) U.S. Bank possessed “a valid leasehold deed of trust” with “a first lien position” encumbering Retail Tract; and (3), Appellants had no rights to “any part of Lots 1, 3, 4 or 6[.j”6 U.S. Bank alleged that its deed of trust (“U.S. Bank deed of trust”) encumbering Retail Tract was used to secure a $90,000,000 indebtedness.

Arvest’s claim, based upon a chain of deeds, sought to have title quieted in Branson as to Lot 1 and in Empire as to Lot 6. It also sought declarations, inter alia, that: (1) Branson had a valid lease of Lot 6; (2) HCW Private had a valid sublease as to Retail Tract, (3) HCW North had valid leases as to two tracts in Lot 1 that we will refer tu as “Northwest Tracts”; (4) Arvest had a valid first lien as to Northwest Tracts; and (5) Appellants had no right to “any part of Lots 1 and 6[.]”7 Arvest asserted in its statement of uncontroverted facts that Arvest’s deed "of trust (“Arvest deed of trust”) encumbering Northwest Tracts was executed to secure a debt “in the maximum amount of $3,956,-250.00[.]” -

Branson’s cross-claim sought to quiet title in itself as to all of Lots 1 and 4, and in Empire as to all of Lots 2, 3, and 6 based upon deeds, or alternatively, adverse possession. Branson also sought a decree, inter alia, that Appellants “have no right, title or interest in and to or right of possession to any of the Braiisoñ Landing[.]” HCW Entities and Empire answered Lien-holders’ claims, but they made no additional, specific claims for relief.

Appellants asserted “CLAIMS AGAINST PLAINTIFF AND OTHER DEFENDANTS” as a part of their response to U.S. Bank’s amended petition. These claims sought to quiet title in Appellants as to “Property A and Property B” based upon a chain of deeds, and, in the alternative, to quiet title ’to these same properties in Coverdell based upon ad[394]*394verse possession (the alternative claim will hereinafter be referred to as “Appellants’ claim”). Appellants also sought a declaration, inter alia, that Empire, Branson, and Lienholders had no rights , in Property A and Property B. We observe — -without so holding — that. Property A .may overlap part of the peninsula and an area south of the peninsula in Branson Landing, and Property B appears to be a smaller portion of Property A, which Coverdell allegedly conveyed to CEI.8

The instant appeals challenge the following three judgments, which we will collectively refer to as “the summary judgments”: (1) a June .2013 judgment (“U.S. Bank’s judgment”) certifies as final a September 2012 summary judgment entered in favor of U.S. Bank (“U.S. Bank’s interlocutory judgment”) declaring, inter alia, thát: (a) title 'is quieted in Branson as to the parts of Lots 1 and 4, and in Empire as to the parts of Lots 3 and 6, each of which are described in Retail Tract; (b) HCW Private has a valid lease in'Retail Tract; (c) U.S. Bank deed of trust is valid and is the first lien; and (d) Appellants have no “right, title or interest, in and to, or right of possession of’ Retail Tract9; (2) .an August 2, 2013 summary judgment on Branson’s motion (“Branson’s judgment”) that, inter alia: (a) quieted title in favor of Branson -as to specific portions of Lot 1 described as “The Western Peninsula” (“Western Peninsula”) and “Park Addition!;,]” and in favor of Empire as to specific portions of Lots 2 and 6 described as the “Branson Town Company Tract” (“Bran-son Town”); (b) denied any right of Appellants in Lots 1, 2, and 6, or of ‘Western Peninsula, Park Addition, [Branson Town and] Eastern Peninsula [sic]”; (c) dismissed with prejudice Appellants’ “Amended Claim” for “fail[ure] to state a claim upon which relief can. be granted”; and (d) denied dismissal of the 2011 case10; and (3) an August 5, -2013 summary judgment in favor of Arvest (“Arvest’s judgment”) that, inter 'alia>■ (a) quieted title in favor of Branson as to Northwest Tracts, and denied any right by Appellants to these parts of Lot 1; and (b) dissolved pertinent notices of lis pendens.

Background Regarding the Claims and Judgments Entered in the 2003 Case After the Remand Ordered in Empire I

Lienholders successfully intervened in the 2003 case after our remand in Empire I, claiming that they held separate deeds of trust that secured financing for lessees — $90,000,000 as to U.S, Bank’s interest, and $3,956,250 as to Arvest’s interest. Empipe II at: 4-5. U.S. Bank’s cross-claim sought to quiet title in Branson as “to all of Lots 1 and 4” and in Empire as “to all of Lots 3 and 6[.]” Id. at 9.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
483 S.W.3d 390, 2015 Mo. App. LEXIS 1113, 2015 WL 7251405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/us-bank-na-v-coverdell-moctapp-2015.