The Eastern District of the Missouri Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of the Mehlville Fire Protection District in a lawsuit filed by the Lemay Fire Protection District related to the property at Lemay Ferry and Reavis Barracks roads.

The appellate court issued a one-page ruling indicating that the issues were “so clear” that it did not warrant a full and reported opinion by the court regarding the dispute of the property commonly referred to as the “Triangle,” according to a Mehlville Fire Protection District news release.

St. Louis County Judge Kenneth Romines had ruled in favor of the Mehlville Fire Protection District in 2002 in the lawsuit filed by the Lemay Fire Protection District. Lemay had asked the court to transfer 11 properties bordered by Reavis Barracks, Lemay Ferry and Green Park roads from Mehlville to Lemay.

Romines decided that a trial was not necessary, but according to the release, Mehlville was “entitled to a ruling.” Romines found that the 11 properties have been “an integral part of Mehlville since the 1954 incorporation” and that Mehlville has provided the primary fire and ambulance service to the properties, according to the release.

The court rejected Lemay’s argument that the properties were intended to be in Lemay and said that “all parties; Mehlville, Lemay and St. Louis County, intended and understood the 11 properties to be in Mehlville.”

Romines also said that “the 11 properties at issue have become, with the passage of time, a part of the Mehlville Fire Protection District.”

“We are very pleased with the court’s ruling,” Mehlville Fire Protection District Board of Directors Chairman Tom O’Driscoll stated in the release. “I suggest that this opinion reinforces and confirms that Lemay filed a needless appeal and it was a waste of the taxpayers’ dollars in our having to defend.

“The trial court and the appellate court rulings were resoundingly in favor of Mehlville. We were always confident in the merits of our position and we are glad that this dispute is finally concluded in our favor,” O’Driscoll added.