Bartlett v. Missouri Department of Insurance

Rule 94 prescribes the practice, procedure, and pleading for mandamus proceedings in circuit court, including the requirement that a circuit court issue a preliminary writ before an answer and decision on the merits. Here, the circuit court issued summonses rather than a preliminary writ. But the “practice of issuing a summons in lieu of a preliminary writ is not authorized by Rule 94,” and this Court will not exercise its discretion to treat the summonses as a preliminary writ in this case. U.S. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs v. Boresi, 396 S.W.3d 356, 359 n.1 (Mo. banc 2013) (warning that this…