Section 10 Ejectment

• Library: Remedies 2006

An ejectment action is an action at law, not in equity. Ejectment existed in the common law, so the parties have a right to a jury trial, and damages may be awarded. The right to jury trial was preserved when ejectment became a statutory action under Chapter 524, RSMo.

An ejectment suit is to test and restore the right of possession of real property. Because unlawful detainer is also to recover possession, ejectment is rarely used at the present time. Some of the differences between ejectment and unlawful detainer include the following:

• The statutes and cases regarding ejectment do not provide for an expedited or summary proceeding as in unlawful detainer

• Unlawful detainer provides for double damages whereas ejectment provides only for actual damages

• Ejectment may be filed before either a circuit or associate circuit judge. Unlawful detainer must originate before an associate circuit judge

• A defendant in an ejectment case may assert equitable defenses (unlike the unlawful detainer defendant). McCain v. Washington, 990 S.W.2d 685 (Mo. App. E.D. 1999)

• A defendant in an ejectment suit may bring a counterclaim (unlike the unlawful detainer defendant).

• Ejectment may be brought against a person who has been in possession for more than three years. (Section 534.300, RSMo 2000, states that unlawful detainer “shall not extend to any person who has had the uninterrupted occupation or been in quiet possession of any lands or tenements for the space of three whole years together . . . . ”) In cases involving claims of ejectment and adverse possession, the ten-year statute of limitations applies.

• There is a right of trial de novo in unlawful detainer cases. Section 512.180, RSMo Supp. 2005...