Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District Digest: April 11, 2022

Consumer Law

Equitable Garnishment

MMPA

Where insurers challenged an equitable garnishment judgment finding policy coverage for damages awarded to plaintiffs on an underlying Missouri Merchandising Practices Act claim against defendant and his auto dealership, the judgment against the insurers is reversed because the plaintiffs failed to prove that the policies covered the defendant’s conduct.

Judgment is reversed.

Estate of Max Overbey v. Universal Underwriters Insurance Company (MLW No. 78110/Case No. WD84401 – 18 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Mitchell, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Clay County, Flook, J. (Douglass F. Noland and Kate E. Noland, Liberty, for respondents) (Brian E. McGovern, Andrew M. Lammert, Chad M. deRoode and Alexander J. Lindley, Town and Country, for appellants).

https://www.courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=185873

Negligence

MHRA

Preemption

Emotional Distress

Where appellant, who had a physical impairment due to a brain injury, argued that the trial court erred in dismissing his claims of negligence and the negligent infliction of emotional distress against two security guards after he was forced to leave a casino when the guards assumed he was drunk, the court properly found that the Missouri Human Rights Act preempted the common law claims, so the dismissal was appropriate.

Judgment is affirmed.

Loomis v. Bowers (MLW No. 78109/Case No. WD84424 – 13 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Martin, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Clay County, Sutton, J. (Aiman Askarovna Dvorak, Kansas City, MO for appellant) (Kyle B. Russell, Overland Park, KS for respondent).

https://www.courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=185874

Real Property

Warranty Deed

Quiet Title

Parol Evidence Rule

Where a dispute arose between the buyers and sellers of a farm after the parties made a “handshake deal” to allow the buyers to continue to live on the farm, and the sellers sought to reform or set aside the warranty deed and the buyers sought to quiet title and to eject the buyers from the property, the trial court did not misapply the parol evidence rule, which prohibited the court from considering the oral agreement, and the judgment quieting title and ejecting the buyers is affirmed, and the court did not err in declining to award money damages for unjust enrichment.

Judgment is affirmed.

Hammond v. Toole (MLW No. 78108/Case No. WD84598 – 12 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Ardini Jr., J.) Appealed from circuit court, Johnson County, Teichman, J. (Jeffrey L. Dull for appellants) (Joshua L. Wiseman and Kim S. Summers for respondents).

https://www.courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=185875

Workers’ Compensation

SIF Liability

PTD

Preexisting Hearing Loss

Where claimant challenged the determination that the Second Injury Fund was not liable to him for permanent total disability benefits, the finding that the claimant’s preexisting hearing loss was an unrelated preexisting disability that did not aggravate his subsequent work-related knee injury was supported by sufficient evidence, and the commission properly disregarded the hearing loss when determining whether the claimant established a compensable permanent total disability claim against the fund.

Judgment is affirmed.

Schebaum v. Treasurer (MLW No. 78107/Case No. WD84765 – 19 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Martin, J.) Appealed from the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (David J. Moen, Jefferson City, for appellant) (David Lee McCain Jr., Jefferson City, for respondent).

https://www.courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=185876