Background

• DiSalvo obtained a $1,501,041 default judgment (2011) against Debi Purvis on fraud claims; judgment remained unsatisfied as of May 2014.
• DiSalvo sought a charging order against Purvis’s membership interests in two Missouri LLCs (Perrydise Properties, LLC and WR Management, LLC) and asked the court to foreclose and order a sheriff’s sale of those membership interests.
• The trial court entered a charging order for the judgment amount plus post-judgment interest and invited briefing on whether foreclosure and sale were available remedies.
• The trial court denied DiSalvo’s request for a court-ordered foreclosure and sheriff’s sale, concluding such relief is not available to a judgment creditor who has obtained a charging order against membership interests in a Missouri LLC.
• DiSalvo appealed, arguing Missouri statutes and case law authorize foreclosure/sale of charged LLC membership interests; the court addressed statutory text, related partnership statutes, and precedent.

Issues

Key Cases Cited

• Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30 (Mo. banc 1976) (standard for appellate review of trial-court fact and law determinations)
• Regions Bank v. Alverne Associates, LLC, 456 S.W.3d 52 (Mo. App. E.D. 2014) (describing charging orders as post-judgment remedy charging distributional interests)
• Wills v. Wills, 750 S.W.2d 567 (Mo. App. E.D. 1998) (foreclosure of charged partnership interests available under Uniform Partnership Law)
• Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc. v. Director of Revenue, 179 S.W.3d 266 (Mo. banc 2005) (usage of expressio unius canon in statutory interpretation)
• Hurt v. Edwards, 148 S.W.2d 542 (Mo. 1941) (equitable foreclosure of liens in a statutory vacuum)
• Bondurant v. Raven Coal Co., 25 S.W.2d 566 (Mo. App. 1929) (equitable foreclosure language; distinguishable facts)