B.N. Excavating, Inc. v. PBC Hollow-A, L.P.

71 A.3d 274, 2013 Pa. Super. 120, 2013 WL 2145663, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 730
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 17, 2013
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 71 A.3d 274 (B.N. Excavating, Inc. v. PBC Hollow-A, L.P.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
B.N. Excavating, Inc. v. PBC Hollow-A, L.P., 71 A.3d 274, 2013 Pa. Super. 120, 2013 WL 2145663, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 730 (Pa. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinions

OPINION BY BOWES, J.:

B.N. Excavating, Inc. (“Appellant”) appeals the trial court order wherein the court sustained the preliminary objections in the nature of a demurrer filed by PBC Hollow-A, L.P. and PBC Hóllow-B, L.P. (“Appellees”), struck Appellant’s complaint for.a mechanics’ lien, and dismissed the mechanics’ lien claim with prejudice. After careful review, we reverse and remand.

[276]*276The trial court succinctly summarized the relevant facts and procedural history as follows:

[Appellant] filed a mechanics’, lien claim on or about June 8, 2009 in the amount of $118,670.71 against property and improvements owned by [Appellees] and known as Providence Business Park, West, Phase II, and located at 571 and 575 Hollow Road, Phoenixville, PA, 19460 (“Property”). The Property is owned by [Appellees]. [Appellant] filed a Complaint in Action upon Mechanics’ Lien on August 10, 2009. [Appellant’s] Mechanics’ Lien claim arises from work allegedly performed by [Appellant] as subcontractor at the property pursuant to a contract between [Appellant] and Warihay Enterprises, Inc., which served as [Appellees’] general contractor. [Appellant] claims that it entered into a contract with Warihay to provide “labor and materials for excavation work, including but not limited to, a silt fence, temporary riser, emergency spillway, topsoil stripping, cut and fill, concrete pipe, sub-grading for building pad, storm water bed, rock ribbing and other site work.” [Appellant] claims that it completed its work on the property on December 18, 2008, and filed its Mechanics’ Lien claim within six (6) months of completion of the work. [Appellees] filed Preliminary Objections to the Complaint on the Mechanics’ Lien on August 31, 2009. [Appellant] answered the Preliminary Objections on September 14, 2009. After memoranda of law were filed, oral argument on the Preliminary Objections was heard on May 14, 2010, after which [the trial court] sustained [Appellees’] Preliminary Objections.

Trial Court Opinion, 8/2/10, at 1-2 (internal citations omitted).

Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal and complied with the trial court’s order to file a concise statement of errors complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b). A three-judge panel of this Court reversed the order sustaining. Appellees’ demurrer, ruling that it did not appear with certainty that the law precluded recovery. En banc review of that panel decision was granted, and the matter is now ready for disposition. Appellant raises' two issues.

1. Whether the trial1 court erred in sustaining [Appellees’] Preliminary Objections and striking Appellantf’s] ... Lien Claim based on disputed facts regarding whether the work was incidental to the erection or construction of an improvement, and without receiving evidence on the issue.
2. Whether the trial court erred in concluding that the work performed by [Appellant] was not incidental to the erection or construction of an improvement.

Appellant’s brief at 4.

In sustaining Appellees’ preliminary objections, the trial court concluded that our reasoning in Sampsom-Miller Associated Companies v. Landmark Realty Co., 224 Pa.Super. 25, 303 A.2d 43 (1973), barred Appellant’s mechanics’ lien for the excavation performed incident to the planned construction because Appellees averred that a structure was never erected. In Sampsowr-Miller, this Court employed a strict construction of the Mechanics’ "Lien Law to hold" that the plain words of the Mechanics’ Lien Law established that “no lien can attach to land for work unconnected to the construction of a building.”1 Id. [277]*277at 46. In reaching this conclusion, the Sampson-Miller Court first considered the statutory definition of erection, construction, alteration, or repair pursuant to 49 P.S. § 1201(12)(a), which included, inter alia, excavation “when such work is incidental to ... erection, construction, alteration or repair.” See 49 P.S. § 1201(12)(a).2 Significantly, the Court then observed, that the General Assembly intended to differentiate between situations where groundwork is performed incidental to construction as opposed to when groundwork is performed independent from construction. Sampson-Miller, supra at 45.

Appellant’s first argument challenges the trial court’s singular reliance upon Ap-pellees’ allegation that, “There is no building or structure of any type on the Property,” in order to sustain the preliminary objection. See Appellees’ Preliminary Objection at 4; Trial Court Opinion, 8/2/10, at 3. Appellant disputes the status of the property and contends that the trial court ignored reasonable inferences in the mechanics’ lien claim and complaint that established that the work was performed incidental to the erection or construction of an improvement. Appellant continues that since the matter turns upon what is essentially a question of fact, the • trial court dismissed its claim prematurely without first constructing a factual record to support its decision. Upon review of the pleadings in the certified record, we agree with Appellant that the trial court erred in sustaining the demurrer based upon the assertion leveled in Appellees’ preliminary objections.' ■'

We reiterate our standard of review of an order sustaining a. demurrer as follows:

When reviewing the dismissal of a complaint based upon preliminary objections in the nature of a demurrer, we treat as true all welbpleaded. material, factual averments and all inferences fairly deducible therefrom. Where the preliminary objections will result in the dismissal of the action, the objections may be. sustained only in cases that are clear ánd free’ from doubt. To be clear and free from doubt that dismissal is appro[278]*278priate, it must appear with certainty that the law would not permit recovery by the plaintiff upon the facts averred. Any doubt, should be resolved by a refusal to sustain the objections. Moreover, we review the trial court’s decision for an abuse of discretion or an error of law.

Ira G. Steffy & Son, Inc. v. Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania, 7 A.3d 278, 282-283 (Pa.Super.2010) (quoting Burgoyne v. Pinecrest Community Ass’n, 924 A.2d 675, 679 (Pa.Super.2007)). A demurrer should be sustained only when the complaint is clearly insufficient to establish the pleader’s right to relief. Ellenbogen v. PNC Bank, 731 A.2d 175, 181 (Pa.Super.1999).

Thus, in order to review Appellees’ demurrer properly; the trial court was required to determine whether the law precluded recovery notwithstanding Appellant’s well-pleaded factual' averments and all reasonable inferences that could be drawn therefrom. Instantly, Appellant’s pleadings and attached documentation aver that it performed the excavation and preparation of building pads in accordance with Appellees’ planned construction of two buildings. Specifically, Appellant’s mechanics’ lien claim referenced exhibits that included (1) the proposal/contract for “Providence Business Park West Phase 2;” (2) invoices for the performance of work including, inter alia,

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Bluebook (online)
71 A.3d 274, 2013 Pa. Super. 120, 2013 WL 2145663, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 730, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bn-excavating-inc-v-pbc-hollow-a-lp-pasuperct-2013.