The following topics are covered on this page:

Missouri court system overview

The Missouri court system consists of trial courts, which hear evidence and make decisions based on the evidence, and appellate courts to which dissatisfied litigants can appeal if they believe the trial court erred. Appellate courts generally do not hear evidence; rather, in making their decisions, they review a transcript of the witnesses' testimony in the trial court and the exhibits submitted by the parties, as well as legal briefs prepared by the attorneys.

The trial courts in the Missouri state system are the Circuit Court, Probate Division of the Circuit Court, Associate Division of the Circuit Court, and Small Claims Division of the Circuit Court. See the linked pages for descriptions of the types of cases they hear. (The Juvenile Division and Probate Division of the Circuit Court are also trial courts, but they are covered on the "Juvenile Law" and "Probate Process" pages, respectively. Another trial court not discussed at all on this site is the Municipal Court Division of the Circuit Court, which hears cases involving alleged violations of municipal ordinances; municipal courts are not covered here because their cases are considered criminal in nature.)

The Circuit Courts are organized into various "circuits" consisting of one or more counties. The 13th Judicial Circuit comprises Boone and Callaway counties. Judges in a particular circuit can hear cases in any county within the circuit and can hear cases in other circuits by special assignment by the Missouri Supreme Court.

The highest appellate court in Missouri is the Supreme Court. It has exclusive jurisdiction over appeals from trial courts involving:

The Supreme Court also has the discretion to accept "transfer" of cases from the lower appellate courts. It then makes the final decision on such cases.

The lower appellate courts are known as the Courts of Appeals. They consider all appeals from trial courts that are not within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. The Eastern District of the Court of Appeals is headquartered in St. Louis, the Western District in Kansas City, and the Southern District in Springfield. Each of the Courts of Appeals has an assigned geographical area from which it accepts appeals. Boone County is in the Western District. Either a Court of Appeals or a litigant can ask the Supreme Court to accept transfer of a case decided by the Court of Appeals.

All appellate judges in Missouri, as well as trial court judges in the St. Louis and Kansas City metropolitan areas, are selected through the Missouri Non-Partisan Judicial Selection Plan. A committee appointed by the Governor interviews applicants for a vacant position and recommends three to the Governor, who appoints one.

Trial court judges in outstate Missouri are elected by voters on partisan ballots, except that Municipal Court judges are appointed by city councils.

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Distinction between civil litigation and criminal cases

Civil litigation should be distinguished from criminal cases:

The types of civil cases are to numerous to enumerate here, but include contract, tort (private wrong-doing not arising from contracts), family law and property cases, among many others.

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Parties to civil lawsuits

The person or company filing a civil lawsuit is called the "plaintiff," while the person or company sued is called the "defendant." There can be multiple plaintiffs and/or multiple defendants, depending on the circumstances.

In some cases, more specialized names are used for the parties – for instance, in a dissolution of marriage, the spouse filing the case is called the "petitioner," while the other spouse is called the "respondent." All the participants in a lawsuit are referred to as the "parties."

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Civil litigation process

Civil litigation is begun by filing with the clerk of the appropriate court a legal document called a "petition" in state court (a "complaint" in federal court) and paying the filing fee required by the court for the particular type of case. The filing fee is an advance deposit toward court costs. Court costs are usually assessed against the losing party in a lawsuit, so if the plaintiff wins, the filing fee can be recovered.

Once a lawsuit has been filed, a copy of the lawsuit must be "served" on the defendant along with a legal document issued by the court clerk called a "summons." This requirement is based on fundamental concepts of fair play and due process – that is, it would be unfair for the court to allow the plaintiff to proceed against the defendant without the defendant having notice that the lawsuit has been filed and an opportunity to defend. Service of the summons and petition on the defendant is usually accomplished by personal delivery by the sheriff or a private process server. In some situations, the documents can be sent to the defendant by mail. More rarely, usually when the whereabouts of the defendant are unknown, it is legal to accomplish service by publishing a notice in a newspaper.

After the summons and petition have been served on the defendant, the defendant has a period of time within which to respond to the petition. The summons advises the defendant of the time allowed, which can vary with the type of case and the court in which it was filed. Depending on the type of case and the court, the defendant must either file a written response with the court, appear in court personally, or have an attorney appear personally.

If a defendant fails to respond to a petition after proper service, the court can enter what is known as a "default judgment" against the defendant, granting the relief requested by the plaintiff. In this situation, the defendant is deemed to have waived the opportunity to present evidence, but the court may require the plaintiff to present some evidence in support of the petition.

Sometimes a defendant will admit the allegations of the petition to the court, in which case the court can enter what is called a "consent judgment" against the defendant.

If the defendant disputes some or all of the allegations of the petition and/or asserts affirmative legal defenses to the petition, the case is considered to be "contested" and will ultimately have to be tried (unless the parties can voluntarily settle the dispute or the lawsuit is dismissed for some reason).

If the defendant has a claim against the plaintiff, the defendant can file a "counterclaim" against the plaintiff in the same lawsuit so all issues between the plaintiff and defendant can be decided at the same time. When a counterclaim arises out of the same basic set of facts as the plaintiff's claim, the counterclaim may be deemed mandatory – that is, the counterclaim will be waived unless filed in response to the plaintiff’s lawsuit and cannot be filed as a separate lawsuit in the future.

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Discovery procedures

Except in Small Claims Court, the parties to a lawsuit have the right to use various "discovery" procedures to obtain information from the other side and third-party witnesses in order to prepare for trial. The discovery process can also promote settlements as the parties learn more about the strengths and weaknesses on both sides of the case. The main discovery devices available are:

Except for depositions, parties usually are required to respond to discovery requests within 30 days. Special rules apply to depositions. Unless the court finds a discovery request was improper, the court can order a non-responsive party to respond and impose sanctions for failure to do so.

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Trial of civil lawsuits

Roughly 90% of all civil lawsuits are settled prior to trial, but if the investigation and discovery in a lawsuit do not result in the parties agreeing to a voluntary settlement, the case will have to go to trial unless it is voluntarily dismissed by the parties or involuntarily dismissed by the court on legal grounds.

In many civil lawsuits, there is an absolute right to a trial by jury unless waived by the parties. If a jury is waived, the evidence is heard and the case is decided by the judge alone. In other cases – dissolutions are one example – there is no right to a jury trial, and these cases are automatically tried to a judge.

In a trial, both sides are entitled to present evidence, which generally consists of the sworn testimony of various witnesses (either live or presented through depositions) and the presentation of various exhibits (which can include documents, photographs and tangible objects).

At the trial court level, smaller cases, particularly those in Small Claims Court and the Associate Division of the Circuit Court, are typically decided within one to three months. More complicated cases, usually in the Circuit Court, usually take from six to 18 months to resolve.

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Appeals in civil cases

After a ruling at the trial court level, in almost all cases there is a right of appeal to a higher court. As implied in the Missouri court system overview at the top of this page, most cases tried in Circuit Court, and many cases tried in the Associate Division, are directly appealable to a Court of Appeals.

A much smaller number of highly specialized cases are directly appealable to the Missouri Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court and the Courts of Appeals generally decide appeals within six to 12 months.

Other cases, primarily Small Claims cases and some smaller Associate Division cases, are initially appealed by seeking a new trial in the Circuit Court.

There are strict deadlines and many rules governing appeals, so the assistance of an attorney is highly advisable in most cases.

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Conclusion

The civil litigation process is a complex one, involving many legal and procedural rules and time deadlines. Thus, although the law permits individuals to represent themselves in court, it is very difficult for most non-lawyers to pursue or defend a civil case successfully without the assistance of an attorney (except in Small Claims Court).

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