Arc One v. Morgan Hill

• Court: Superior Court of Maine
• Decided: March 13, 2008
• Docket: PENre-07-059and036and026
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

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SUPERIOR COURT PENOBSCOT, 55. FILED & ENTERED CIVIL ACTION SUPEhlOR COURT DOCKET NO BAN-07-RE-059 ~1 ,'. i)1 3 2"08 u BAN-07-RE-036 II'L"I,\ rJfI! \'I' ". BAN-07-RE~026 , -)1') I' '-, - " '\".1

ARC ONE, LLC, PENOBSCOT COUNTY

Plaintiff, v. DECISION MORGAN HILL, LLC et al.,

Defendant.

Hearing was held on these consolidated cases on March 13, 2008. Plaintiff

Hammond Lumber was dismissed as a party on its own motion by the court and

Granville Lumber indicated it was filing a stipulation of dismissal and neither appeared

for hearing. Plaintiff Arc One appeared through counsel Kate E. Conley, Esq.,

Consolidated Electrical Distributors, Inc. appeared through counsel, Jennifer Archer,

Esq., UPS Capital Business Credit appeared through counsel David Sherman, Esq. and

all other defendants did not appear. Arc One proved its claim for $26,153.36 against

Morgan Hill LLC and Consolidated Electrical Distributors, Inc, proved its claim for

$10,543.55 plus attorney fees against Morgan Hill and personal Guarantor Jacqueline

Tapley. Consolidated also established the priority of its lien over that of UPS. The only

issue litigated pertained to whether Arc One filed its mechanics' lien in a timely

manner.

According to 10 MRSA 3253, a mechanics' lien shall be dissolved unless the

claimant files in the appropriate registry a true statement of the amount due the

claimant within 90 days after he ceases to labor, furnish materials or perform services.

In this case, Arc 1 had provided doors and similar materials to Morgan Hills' events

center being built in Hermon, Maine and filed its certificate of lien on January 17, 2007. Arc did not install the materials or perform any labor or services during the installation

phase of the project. Its last invoice for materials that Morgan Hill purchased is dated

8/30/06, indicating a shipping date of 8/29. What causes Arc One to argue that the

certificate is timely filed is its invoice 745 dated 3/1/07 indicating that it shipped

something to Morgan Hill on December 20, 2006. In reality, Morgan Hill had

complained of a leaking door supplied by Arc and Arc caused a subcontractor to travel

to the events center on that date to attempt to repair the condition causing the leak.

Nothing was shipped and this was a service called covered by a subcontractor. The

plaintiff argues that its lien should not be dissolved because it filed the certificate within

90 days of the labor performed that is the subject of this invoice.

When the laborer's work is complete, and no lien is filed during the statutory

period following completion, evidence of subsequent "trifling services" in connection

with the work without the express or implied promise of payment is insufficient to

extend the period of filing. Hahnel v. Warren, 123 Me. 422(1924), 123 A. 420. The court

decides that this principle also implicitly applies to goods sold as well as labor

provided. The court finds that the service performed on December 20, 2006 qualifies as

"trifling" and dissolves Arc's mechanics' lien for a variety of reasons. First, prior to

December 20, 2006, Arc had only provided goods and there is no indication that there

was any agreement that Arc was also to provide services. Second, The amount of the

invoice, $186.00 is an extremely small percentage of the total amount of materials

provided, $24,977.36. Next, there is no record evidence indicating that the parties

agreed that there would be a charge for the service call and an inspection for a defect

could have been considered part of the purchase price. Finally, the fact that two months

passed between the date of service and the invoice could indicate that the services were

being billed to save the lien. The court requests that one of the attorneys appearing at trial volunteer to

provide the court with a proposed judgment with regard to these three consolidated

cases, including a provision dissolving Arc's lien and a provision dismissing Granville

Lumber's complaint if a stipulation of dismissal hasn't been filed by the time the

judgment is completed.

The clerk is directed to incorporate this Decision into the docket by reference.

Dated: March 13, 2008 WILLIAM ANDERSON JUSTICE, SUPERIOR COURT 03/25/2008 MAINE JUDICIAL INFORMATION SYSTEM ksmith BANGOR DISTRICT COURT mjxxi048 CASE PARTY ADDRESS BOOK ARC ONE LLC VS MORGAN HILL LLC ET ALS UTN:AOCSsr -2007-0041379 CASE #:BANDC-RE-2007-00059

ARC ONE LLC PL ATTY SZWED, SUSAN

MORGAN HILL LLC DEF

MAIL ADDR:

PIONEER CAPITAL CORPORATION PI!

UPS CAPITAL BUSINESS CREDIT PI! ATTY SHERMAN, DAVID WELLS FARGO FOOTHILL CORPORATION PI!

HAMMOND LUMBER COMPANY PI! ATTY UNDERKUFFLER, FRANK

GRANVILLE LUMBER CORP PI! ATTY KIMBALL, CURTIS

CONSOLIDATED ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS INC PI! ATTY ARCHER, JENNIFER A.

GRANVILLE LUMBER CORP VS. TAPLEY POOLS INC & MORGAN HILL LLC, ET ALS BANDC RE-2007-36 UPS CAPITAL BUSINESS CREDIT, PII BY DAVID SHERMAN, ESQ. WELLS FARGO FOOTHILL, INC., PII BY: NO APPEARANCE ENTERED HAMMOND LUMBER CO. PII BY: NO APPEARANCE ENTERED ARC ONE LLC, PII BY KATE CONLEY ESQ CONSOLIDATED ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS INC., PII BY: JENNIFER ARCHER, ESQ.

HAMMOND LUMBER COMPANY VS. MORGAN HILL LLC & JACKIE TAPLEY ET ALS RE-2007-26 HAMMOND LUMBER COMPANY PLAINTIFF, DISMISSED BY: FRANK UNDERKUFFLER ESQ MORGAN HILL LLC DEFENDANT BY: NO ~PPEARANCE ENTERED JACKIE TAPLEY DEFENDANT BY: NO APPEARANCE ENTERED UPS CAPITAL BUSINESS CREDIT, PII BY: DAVID SHERMAN ESQ WELLS FARGO FOOTHILL, INC. PII BY NO APPEARANCE ENTERED ARC ONE LLC PI! BY KATE CONLEY, ESQ. CONSOLIDATED ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS INC., PII BY; JENNIFER ARCHER GRANVILLE LUMBER CORPORATION, PII BY: CURTIS KIMBALL ESQ PIONEER CAPITAL CORPORATION, PII BY: ALAN WOLF, ESQ