This case involved an insurance company's attempt to intervene in a pending personal injury lawsuit filed by E.G. Jones against Clyde Tucker in Missouri circuit court, seeking to add a declaratory judgment claim on whether its garage liability policy covered Tucker and required it to provide a defense. The trial judge denied the motion to intervene, prompting the insurer to seek a writ of mandamus from the Missouri Supreme Court to compel intervention as of right under the civil procedure code. The court held that intervention was not required, reasoning that the insurer lacked a direct interest in the outcome of the tort action because its insured was not a party, no coverage dispute existed with the insured, and any coverage issues with Tucker could be resolved in a separate proceeding without binding the insurer to the personal injury judgment. The court distinguished prior precedent allowing intervention and discharged the alternative writ of mandamus as improvidently issued, also discharging a related preliminary rule in prohibition.
The case involved Harold Becker's conviction under Missouri Revised Statutes Section 563.280 for possessing with intent to sell or circulate two nudist magazines containing photographs of nude men, women, and children with private parts depicted. Becker appealed, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to show the publications were obscene, that the statute was unconstitutionally vague and indefinite, and that it violated free speech protections. The court affirmed the conviction, holding that the publications met the legal test for obscenity by tending to deprave morals through incitement of lascivious thoughts, that the statute provided an ascertainable standard of guilt, and that free speech rights do not extend to obscene materials under established precedent.
The case involved Nellie S. Collins appealing her removal from Missouri's old age assistance rolls after the Division of Welfare determined, following a reinvestigation and household budget, that family income of $255.47 per month exceeded necessary expenses of $218.89. The Director of the State Department of Public Health and Welfare affirmed the removal after a hearing, finding sufficient household resources to meet needs, and the circuit court upheld that order. The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed, concluding that substantial evidence supported the Director's factual findings on income and eligibility. The court limited its review to whether the administrative decision was supported by substantial evidence rather than conducting a new evaluation of the facts.
This case involved a habeas corpus petition filed by Harold J. Arrington challenging his detention in Missouri for extradition to Idaho on a 1942 first-degree burglary conviction from which he had escaped. The petitioner argued that Idaho's extradition demand was invalid because it did not allege in writing that he was present in Idaho at the time of the crime and later fled, as required by Missouri's Uniform Criminal Extradition Act. The court discharged the writ and ordered Arrington remanded to the sheriff for delivery to Idaho authorities. The core reasoning was that the federal extradition statute (18 U.S.C.A. § 3182) governs this area of extradition, does not require the written allegation at issue, and preempts the conflicting Missouri statute, while the governor's rendition warrant satisfied federal requirements and was prima facie valid.
Bertha Harris sued the St. Louis Public Service Company for personal injuries sustained while boarding a bus, when the operator closed the doors on her and then abruptly stopped, throwing her backward onto the sidewalk and fracturing her right wrist. The jury returned a $13,500 verdict for the plaintiff, which the trial court upheld after denying the defendant's motion for a new trial. On appeal, the court found no reversible error in the trial court's rulings on closing argument about an absent physician witness or in the jury instructions. The court concluded that the verdict was excessive by $3,500 in light of the plaintiff's age, prior wrist injury, medical costs, and permanent disabilities, and ordered a remittitur reducing the judgment to $10,000 or a new trial.
The case involved a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Martha Naomi Lohmann against Wabash Railroad Company and J.E. and Claudia Latta after her husband was killed when his southbound truck was struck by an eastbound train at the Eva Avenue grade crossing in St. Louis County, Missouri. The jury returned a $15,000 verdict for the plaintiff, but the trial court set it aside and entered judgment for the defendants in accordance with their motions for a directed verdict. The court affirmed that ruling on appeal, holding that the decedent was negligent as a matter of law because he failed to look for the approaching train, which he could have seen in time to stop if he had done so, despite the presence of a grease shack on the right-of-way. The court reasoned that the shack did not obstruct the decedent's view to the point of rendering the crossing unusually hazardous in a way that excused his duty to look, making his own negligence the proximate cause of the accident rather than any failure by the defendants to provide additional warnings.
