Section 2.2 Aggrieved Parties in General

• Library: App Ct Prac 2015 Supp

A. (§2.2) Aggrieved Parties in General

Rule: Only “aggrieved parties” may appeal. A party is “aggrieved” when the judgment acts directly, prejudicially, and immediately on his or her legal rights or interests.

A party’s standing to appeal is usually a straightforward issue. The decision to appeal, in itself, suggests that the party is unhappy with something that the trial court did. Mere dissatisfaction with the trial court’s judgment, however, does not alone satisfy § 512.020, RSMo 2000. Under § 512.020, “[a] party is ‘aggrieved’ when the judgment operates prejudicially and directly on his personal or property rights or interest and such is an immediate and not merely a possible remote consequence.” Stockman v. Safe-Skin Corp., 36 S.W.3d 447, 449 (Mo. App. E.D. 2001).

Thus, the rule has three requirements:

1. The appellant must have been a party in the trial court.

In general, nonparties have no standing to appeal. In re K.K.J., 984 S.W.2d 548, 551 (Mo. App. S.D. 1999); Hicks v. Graves Truck Lines, Inc., 707 S.W.2d 439, 441–42 (Mo. App. W.D. 1986). Of course, a party in a representative capacity—e.g., an administrator or fiduciary—has standing to appeal a judgment adverse to the interests of the beneficiary. But review is limited to issues affecting the beneficiary’s interests. The representative may not appeal a judgment adversely affecting the representative’s personal interests. In re Estate of Savage, 650 S.W.2d 346, 349 (Mo. App. S.D. 1983). See also:

· Estate of Munzert, 887 S.W.2d 764, 767 (Mo. App. E.D. 1994) (a “personal representative may not appeal from a judgment unless the record indicates that she is an aggrieved party in her capacity as administrator”);

· Estate of Fowler, 860 S.W.2d 380, 382 (Mo. App. S.D. 1993) (a personal representative has no standing to appeal a judgment or decree determining the rights or interests of those claiming through the decedent);

· State ex rel. Cooper v. Washington County Comm’n, 848 S.W.2d 620, 621 (Mo. App. E.D. 1993) (a former elected official had no standing in her individual capacity to appeal an adverse judgment in an action filed in her official capacity after she lost an election and her successor was substituted for her as the plaintiff).

Under Rule 52.12(a), however, an intervenor of right may appeal an otherwise final order denying intervention. Alexian Bros. Sherbrooke Vill. v. St. Louis County, 884 S.W.2d 727, 728 (Mo. App. E.D. 1994) (an order denying intervention as a matter of right is appealable); State ex rel. Reser v. Martin, 576 S.W.2d 289, 291 (Mo. banc 1978). By contrast, a litigant seeking permissive intervention under Rule 52.12(b) is not sufficiently “aggrieved” to appeal. Martin, 576 S.W.2d at 290; Lewis v. Barnes Hosp., 685 S.W.2d 591, 594 (Mo. App. E.D. 1985); In re M.M.P., 10 S.W.3d 195, 198–99 (Mo. App. W.D. 2000). This doctrine produces a curious circularity...