Contracts: Non-Profit Organization-Validity of Board Election

Appellant appealed the trial court’s denial of its motion to intervene in the lawsuit, alleging that its bylaws prohibited individual lodges from incorporating and that parties purporting to be the directors of an individual lodge took actions adverse to appellant by stealing assets being held for the benefit of the lodge. The trial court ruled that appellant was not a third-party beneficiary and that there was no implied trust in appellant’s favor.

Where the trial court took substantial evidence showing that the property at issue was being held by the parties in an implied trust for appellant, it erred in denying appellant’s motion to intervene because its ability to protect its property interests would be hampered by the present action.

Judgment is reversed and remanded.

Merchant v. Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Missouri (MLW No. 80960/Case No. WD85658 – 19 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Gabbert, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Saline County, Rolf, J. (Marjorie M. Lewis, Columbia, for appellant) (Alexandra So-Yun, St. Louis, for respondent)