Opinion
No. 27753.
June 20, 1950.
APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT, ST. LOUIS COUNTY, FRED E. MUELLER, J.
Edwin Rader, Clayton, for appellant.
Herbert W. Ziercher, Clayton, Wm. J. Becker, Clayton, for respondent.
This is an action by plaintiff, Longmoor Corporation, against John A. Jeffers, defendant, to recover $1,122.69 alleged to be due plaintiff as rent of an apartment owned by plaintiff and occupied by defendant. The case was tried to the court and resulted in a finding and judgment for defendant. From said judgment, plaintiff has appealed.
The petition alleged that defendant had occupied the premises, described as Apartment C, 8907 Eager Road, Manhassett Village, as tenant of the plaintiff, from September 1, 1944, to June 25, 1946, under an agreement to pay a monthly rental, in advance, of $51.50; that though demand had been made for the amount due, same had not been paid; that the sum of $1,122.69 was due, for which amount plaintiff prayed judgment, together with interest and costs.
The defendant, in his answer, admitted that he occupied the premises at the agreed rental of $51.50 per month, but averred that the issues in the case had been fully adjudicated in a former suit between the parties.
Mr. H. G. Barngrove, President of Longmoor Corporation, testified that the rental of $51.50 per month was due for the twenty-one months from September 1, 1944, to June 1, 1946, which totaled the sum of $1,081.50; that from June 1, 1946, to June 25, 1946, there was due the sum of $41.19; that the aggregate rental due from defendant to plaintiff was $1,122.69.
In support of its defense of res adjudicata, defendant offered the files in a prior action between the parties. Said action was one in unlawful detainer for the premises in question. The petition in said suit was as follows: "Longmoor Corporation complains to Ruth D. Childress, Justice of the Peace within and for Jefferson Township, County of St. Louis, Mo., that, on the 1st day of October, 1944, it had the legal right to possession of the following described premises situated in Jefferson Township in St. Louis County, Missouri, to-wit: Apartment C, 8907 Eager Road, Manhassett Village, Richmond Heights, and that John A. Jeffers willfully, and without force, holds the possession of the same premises, after the termination of the time for which they were demised or let to him; and after demand made in writing, for the delivery of the possession thereof. The complainant further states that it has sustained damages, by reason of the unlawful detainer aforesaid, in the sum of Fifty-one and 50/100 Dollars and that the value of the monthly rents and profits of said tenements is $51.50 Dollars. Wherefore, the complainant prays judgment of restitution, and for $51.50 damages, and the value of the monthly rents and profits of the premises aforesaid."
Said prior cause in unlawful detainer was removed to the Circuit Court by certiorari and there tried on June 25, 1946, and the following verdict rendered: "We, the jury, find the defendant guilty in manner and form as charged in the complaint, and do further find that the value of the monthly rents and profits of the said tenements is $51.50 Dollars."
The judgment entered on this verdict was that complainant have restitution of the premises and recover of defendant at the rate of $103 per month for the rents and profits from the 25th of June, 1946, until restitution be made, and for costs. No damages were awarded for unpaid rent prior to June 25, 1946, the date the verdict was rendered. The trial court thereafter sustained the defendant's motion for new trial, from which action of the court plaintiff appealed. This court held that there were no errors warranting a new trial and, after holding that plaintiff was not entitled to a judgment in double the amount of the verdict, reversed and remanded the cause with directions to enter judgment in accordance with the verdict. Longmoor Corporation v. Jeffers, Mo.App., 205 S.W.2d 234.
Thereafter, plaintiff actually recovered possession of the apartment in the month of December, 1948, and received its rent from June 25, 1946, to the date of restitution.
It is urged that the judgment in the former case could not operate as res adjudicata for the reason that the claim for accrued rent, being in an amount in excess of the monetary jurisdiction of the Justice of the Peace, could not be recovered by said action. There is no merit to this contention for the reason that the law governing unlawful detainer suits contains no limitations in this regard. This was pointed out clearly in the early case of Silvey v. Summer et al., 61 Mo. 253, loc. cit. 256. Such being the case, the claim belonged to the subject matter of the prior litigation, and any judgment rendered in that case is res adjudicata in this action. Hunter v. Delta Realty Co., 350 Mo. 1123, 169 S.W.2d 936; Melvin v. Hoffman, 290 Mo. 464, 235 S.W. 107; Cordia v. Matthes, 344 Mo. 1059, 130 S.W.2d 597; Leslie v. Carter, 268 Mo. 420, 187 S.W. 1196; Emmert v. Aldridge, 231 Mo. 124, 132 S.W. 1050; Spratt v. Early, 199 Mo. 491, 97 S.W. 925; Donnell v. Wright, 147 Mo. 639, 49 S.W. 874.
The judgment is affirmed.
HUGHES and McCULLEN, JJ., concur.