With exceptions inapplicable to the action, appeal is possible only upon final judgment, which is the judgment that resolves all issues as to all parties. That question is for an appellate court to determine without regard to the parties’ or circuit court’s perceptions. Plaintiff filed an action in circuit court, including a claim for breach of fiduciary duty, and then filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy. In bankruptcy, the claim for breach of fiduciary duty was not scheduled, not administered, and not abandoned.
The claim, therefore, remained the bankruptcy estate’s property even after the bankruptcy case closed, and nothing showed that the bankruptcy trustee had resolved that claim, so the claim was still pending when the circuit court issued the ruling appealed. That ruling had “no language…that resolved any pending claim against any party [,]” even by implication, including the claim for breach of fiduciary duty. Because the claim remained unresolved, no final judgment was before the Court of Appeals, so the Court of Appeals dismisses the appeal.
Luke Reynolds, Plaintiff, vs. Samuel Berger, and TMF Holdings, LLC, Defendants, Left Hand Productions, Inc., Appellant, 816 Geyer, LLC, Intervenor, and Dresden Capital Management, LLC, Respondent.
(Overview Summary)
Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District – ED109902
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