Opinion
No. 28686.
October 5, 1953.
APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT, CITY OF ST. LOUIS, EUGENE J. SARTORIUS, J.
Allen H. Whittington, St. Louis, for appellant.
Bartley Bartley, Ralph H. Schnebelen, St. Louis, for respondents.
This is a mechanic's lien action wherein a general judgment was sought in the sum of $7,399.79, together with interest thereon from July 21, 1949. The defense was that plaintiff had been fully paid. On June 30, 1952, judgment was entered for defendant. Plaintiff has appealed.
This court does not have jurisdiction of appeals in cases where the amount in dispute, exclusive of costs, exceeds the sum of seventy-five hundred dollars. Article 5, Sections 3 and 13, Constitution of 1945, V.A.M.S., and Section 477.040 R.S.Mo. 1949, V.A.M.S.
In Huttig v. Brennan, 328 Mo. 471, 41 S.W.2d 1054, it was held that the Supreme Court had jurisdiction of a plaintiff's appeal in a suit on notes where the amount sued for, principal and interest, computed to judgment date, exceeded the sum of $7500.
Harvey v. Peoples Bank, Mo.Sup., 136 S.W.2d 273, was an action seeking to establish a claim for $6000, together with interest. The trial court sustained a demurrer to the petition and, plaintiff refusing to plead further, entered a judgment of dismissal. Plaintiff appealed to this court. We thereafter, on motion, transferred the cause to the Supreme Court on the ground of lack of jurisdiction. The Supreme Court held that, since the principal sum, $6000, plus the amount of interest alleged to be due, exceeded $7500, jurisdiction of the appeal was in that court, and that our order transferring the case was proper.
In Laustrup v. Bankers Life Co., Mo. App., 192 S.W.2d 35, plaintiff sued on a life insurance policy and recovered judgment in the principal sum of $4890.74, together with interest from the date of insured's death. The principal amount, plus the interest computed to the judgment date, exceeded the sum of $7500. We held this court to be without jurisdiction and transferred the cause to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court retained jurisdiction and thereafter decided the case on its merits. Laustrup v. Bankers Life Co., 355 Mo. 304, 196 S.W.2d 260.
In the case at bar the amount in dispute is the principal sum of $7399.79, plus interest thereon from July 21, 1949, to June 30, 1952, the date of judgment, which total sum is in excess of our jurisdiction.
It is, therefore, ordered by the court that the cause be and is hereby transferred to the Supreme Court.
BENNICK, P. J., and HOLMAN, Special Judge, concur.