City of Normandy, et al, Respondents, vs. Mike Kehoe, in his official capacity as Governor of Missouri, et al., Appellants.
In 2015, the general assembly enacted sections
Later, in City of Aurora v. Spectra Communications Group, LLC, 592 S.W.3d 764 (Mo. banc 2019), this Court rejected the closed-ended/open-ended dichotomy (which had been used to evaluate local or special laws claims in City of Normandy I and other recent cases) in favor of the rational basis analysis (which this Court previously used in such cases for more than a century). Believing sections
BACKGROUND
The general assembly passed Senate Bill No. 5 (“SB 5“) in 2015 to bring needed reforms to municipalities and municipal
In 2016, the circuit court entered judgment declaring those provisions of SB 5 limited to St. Louis County and its municipalities unconstitutional under the prohibition against local or special laws in
In 2020, shortly after this Court‘s decision in City of Aurora, the state sought relief under Rule 74.06(b)(5) from the permanent injunction in the circuit court‘s 2016 judgment in City of Normandy I. The state contended SB 5 would not have been declared unconstitutional if it had been subjected to a rational basis analysis (i.e., if it had been decided after City of Aurora rather than before), and this was sufficient to establish it was “no longer equitable” for the injunction to remain in force under Rule 74.06(b)(5). The circuit court agreed and sustained the state‘s motion, vacating the permanent injunction and permitting the state to enforce the provisions of sections
ANALYSIS
Both parties assert the correct standard of review is abuse of discretion, as a general matter, this Court agrees. Henry v. Piatchek, 578 S.W.3d 374, 377-78 (Mo. banc 2019) (“This Court reviews the overruling of a Rule 74.06(b) motion under the abuse of discretion standard.“). As with any court-tried case, this Court will not defer to the circuit court‘s decisions
I. The circuit court‘s decision was not a per se abuse of discretion
The state‘s principal argument is that the circuit court‘s overruling of the state‘s Rule 74.06(b)(5) motion was a per se abuse of discretion because, under the change in law announced in City of Aurora, sections
First, this Court expressly rejected this argument in Normandy II, holding it is not a per se abuse of discretion to deny relief from a permanent injunction under Rule 74.06(b)(5) even if the decisional law on which the injunction was based has been overruled. Normandy II, 643 S.W.3d at 314. “A previous holding constitutes ‘law of the case,’ precluding relitigation of issues on remand and subsequent appeal.” Am. Eagle Waste Indus., LLC v. St. Louis Cnty., 379 S.W.3d 813, 825 (Mo. banc 2012) (citing Williams v. Kimes, 25 S.W.3d 150, 153 (Mo. banc 2000)). In short, the state is not permitted to challenge in this appeal a holding this Court announced and applied in Normandy II.
Even if the state‘s argument were not barred by the law-of-the-case doctrine, it would still fail. As set forth in Normandy II, the principle of finality is a cornerstone of our system of justice. Normandy II, 643 S.W.3d at 313-14. Right or wrong, for better or worse, the disputes presented in our courts must be resolved, and those resolutions must be final. “[T]here must always be an end to litigation and a certainty as to the rights of litigants must be achieved so that dignity and respect for judicial determinations will be maintained.” Id. at 314 (quoting Goldsmith v. M. Jackman & Sons, Inc., 327 F.2d 184-85 (10th Cir. 1964)). “This Court carefully guards the principle of finality of judgments and will not casually allow a final judgment to be set aside.” Glendale Shooting Club, Inc. v. Landolt, 661 S.W.3d 778, 782 (Mo. banc 2023).
This is not to say there can never be relief from a permanent injunction or other judgment with prospective relief. “[T]his Court has provided very narrow exceptions allowing for relief from judgment in very limited circumstances.” Id. (emphasis added). These “narrow exceptions” and “limited circumstances” are set forth in Rule 74.06, including the provision in Rule 74.06(b)(5) allowing a court to relieve a party from a prospective judgment when “it is no longer equitable that the judgment remain in force.” The touchstone of Rule 74.06(b)(5), however, is equity. The state‘s contention that a change in the decisional law, without more, always justifies relief from a permanent injunction is an anathema to the principles of equity. Normandy II, 643 S.W.3d at 316. “[T]here are multiple relevant considerations that
Normandy II holds a “change in decisional law is neither necessary nor sufficient to warrant relief from judgment under Rule 74.06(b)(5).” Normandy II, 643 S.W.3d at 314. As noted, the state is bound by this holding as law of the case. Even if that were not so, this Court reached the same conclusion in Glendale Shooting Club, holding – even if there has been a change in the law – Rule 74.06(b)(5) always requires “a showing of inequity demonstrating the necessity of vacating or modifying a permanent injunction.” Glendale Shooting Club, 661 S.W.3d at 783. The state‘s arguments that this Court should overrule a principle so recently stated are not persuasive.
The third reason the state‘s argument that it is per se entitled to relief from the 2016 permanent injunction on the ground that sections
When a statute is declared unconstitutional, that declaration has a definite and certain effect. “An unconstitutional statute is no law and confers no rights. This is true from the date of its enactment, and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it.” State ex rel. Miller v. O‘Malley, 117 S.W.2d 319, 324 (Mo. banc 1938) (citation omitted); see also Trout v. State, 231 S.W.3d 140, 148 (Mo. banc 2007) (same).4 This is true regardless
II. The circuit court did not abuse its discretion in finding the equities do not weigh in favor of sustaining the state‘s motion
In addition to the state‘s ”per se abuse of discretion” argument, which fails for each of the three independent reasons above, the state also argues the circuit court improperly weighed the equities and incorrectly concluded those equities did not favor lifting the 2016 permanent injunction. With respect to these equities, the state insists: (1) sections
First, there is no basis for the state‘s assertion that sections
Following City of Normandy II, the circuit court on remand made no determination that sections
Second, the state claims the St. Louis County municipalities would not be burdened if sections
Section
67.287.2 lists multiple services the municipalities must provide, including insurance policies, written orders and policies for a variety of different issues, and improved management and accounting systems. Originally, section67.287.2 gave the municipalities three years from August 28, 2015, to provide those services. Section67.287.2 also gave the municipalities six years to have a police department accredited or certified by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies or the Missouri Police Chiefs Association or a contract with a police department with such accreditation. Because more than six years has passed since August 28, 2015, the municipalities would be forced to provide those services immediately. Gone would be the grace period the General Assembly saw necessary to provide the municipalities when it enacted SB 5.
City of Normandy II, 643 S.W.3d at 317 n.6. The circuit court did not abuse its discretion in deciding the burdens of reinstating enforcement weigh against sustaining the state‘s motion because the municipalities would not have the benefit of the
Third, the state argues the burdens referred to in the preceding argument can be lessened or eliminated if this Court (or the circuit court) sustains the state‘s Rule 74.06(b)(5) motion immediately with respect to some aspects of sections
Fourth, the state argues the importance of finality “favors the State in all its facets.” The circuit court disagreed, and this Court affirms. The “importance of finality” referred to by the circuit court and by this Court in Normandy II – but not by the state – is the importance of the finality of judgments. See Glendale Shooting Club, 661 S.W.3d at 782 (“This Court carefully guards the principle of finality of judgments and will not casually allow a final judgment to be set aside.“). This Court addressed the importance of finality of judgments at great length in Normandy II, 643 S.W.3d at 313-14, 317, and no purpose is served by repeating that discussion here. Suffice it to say, the state‘s argument affords little or no weight to the finality of the 2016 judgment, which likely stems from the premise underlying all the state‘s arguments, i.e., that the 2016 judgment was wrong when entered and would not have happened if the case were litigated after City of Aurora rather than before it. The purpose of Rule 74.06(b)(5), however, is not to give dissatisfied litigants a second (or third) bite at the apple to reach the result they believe should have been reached initially. On remand, the circuit court gave the finality of the 2016 judgment substantial weight and did not abuse its discretion in making this decision.
Fifth, the state insists it argued – in City of Normandy I – for the rational-basis analysis this Court did not return to until City of Aurora. The circuit court found the state made no such argument, and this Court agrees. In the circuit court and in this Court in City of Normandy I, the state argued only that the open-ended/closed-ended dichotomy used to evaluate local or special law claims in cases such as Jefferson County Fire Protection Districts Ass‘n v. Blunt, 205 S.W.3d 866 (Mo. banc 2006), and City of St. Louis v. State, 382 S.W.3d 905 (Mo. banc 2012), should be used to defeat the municipalities’ claims. Nowhere did the state argue for the restoration of the rational basis analysis this Court implemented in City of Aurora. The state‘s few uses of the phrase “rational basis,” cherry-picked from many dozens of pages of briefing, are insufficient to cast doubt on the accuracy of the circuit court‘s finding.
Finally, the state argues the circuit court should have considered the “public interest” in weighing the equities involved in the state‘s Rule 74.06(b)(5) motion. If the circuit court had, the state argues the public interest would have weighed strongly in favor of sustaining its motion. The state‘s argument mischaracterizes the circuit court‘s decision. The “public interest” runs throughout all of the issues the circuit
The state devotes much of its briefing to Building & Construction Trades Council of Philadelphia & Vicinity, AFL-CIO v. N.L.R.B., 64 F.3d 880, 888 (3d Cir. 1995), and the factors set forth there for evaluating a motion seeking relief from an injunction under federal Rule 60(b)(5) (permitting relief when “it is no longer equitable” that the judgment should have perspective application). That court stated:
[T]he standard for modifying an injunction cannot depend on whether the case is characterized as an institutional reform case, a commercial dispute, or private or public litigation. Different considerations may have greater or lesser prominence in different cases, not because the cases are characterized one way rather than another but because equity demands a flexible response to the unique conditions of each case.
We abjure establishing a rigid, pervasively applicable rule, although it may be helpful to set forth the factors that generally should be considered in deciding whether to modify an injunction. These include the circumstances leading to entry of the injunction and the nature of the conduct sought to be prevented; the length of time since entry of the injunction; whether the party subject to its terms has complied or attempted to comply in good faith with the injunction; and the likelihood that the conduct or conditions sought to be prevented will recur absent the injunction. Central to the court‘s consideration will be whether the modification is sought because changed conditions unforeseen by the parties have made compliance substantially more onerous or have made the decree unworkable. Courts which have faced similar issues also have identified as a relevant factor whether the conduct previously enjoined has become legal due to a change in the law[.]
Bldg. & Const., 64 F.3d at 888 (citations omitted).
The state‘s reliance on this case and its discussion of federal Rule 60(b)(5) highlight the central misunderstanding on which the state built its argument. The purpose of the 2016 permanent injunction was not a fiercely litigated or negotiated effort to tailor a private or governmental actor‘s conduct to the dictates of the law. Instead, it played the largely gratuitous role of prohibiting the state from enforcing a statute that had been declared unconstitutional. As long as that declaration remains – a judgment from which the state never has sought relief – there is no statute to enforce.
When Building & Construction and the other cases on which the state relies refer to “changes in the law,” they refer to post-judgment changes allowing what the relevant injunction prohibits or prohibiting what the injunction allows. Id. Here, the only “change in law” was this Court returning to a rational-basis review in City of Aurora as a means of evaluating local or special law claims under
Notes
City of Normandy II, 643 S.W.3d at 317 n.7.[T]he state is not without recourse. Were the provisions of SB 5 that were held unconstitutional in the 2016 judgment to be reenacted, they would not be governed by the 2016 judgment and, if the state is correct in arguing that such provisions would survive the rational basis scrutiny employed in City of Aurora, challenges to those new provisions would fail.