Brimton v. Horn

58 Pa. D. & C. 524
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Cumberland County
DecidedJanuary 6, 1947
Docketno. 210
StatusPublished

This text of 58 Pa. D. & C. 524 (Brimton v. Horn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Cumberland County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brimton v. Horn, 58 Pa. D. & C. 524 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1947).

Opinion

Reese, P. J.,

In this action of assumpsit plaintiffs seek to recover from defendants the balance alleged to be due on account of the purchase price of certain premises conveyed by plaintiffs to defendants. To the statement of claim defendants have filed an affidavit of defense, which avers new [525]*525matter designated as a counterclaim. Plaintiffs have entered a rule for judgment for want of a sufficient affidavit of defense, in which they attack the legal sufficiency of the affidavit of defense and of the new matter or counterclaim.

Where defendant files an affidavit of defense and avers new matter, and plaintiff deems defendant’s answer to be insufficient, the proper practice , is to file a reply raising questions of law to new matter, with a rule for judgment for want of a sufficient affidavit of defense: Bertolet v. Lanard, 135 Pa. Superior Ct. 245; National Realty Appraisal Co. v. Art Club of Philadelphia, 129 Pa. Superior Ct. 99. While plaintiffs herein have not followed this practice exactly, they have attacked the legal sufficiency of the affidavit of defense as well as of the new matter and, as in the case last cited, we can consider plaintiffs as having followed the proper practice.

Briefly, the pleadings reveal the following facts: On May 28, 1946, plaintiffs entered into a written contract with defendants to convey to the latter certain property owned by plaintiff, Mrs. Brinton, and described jn the contract as “that certain partly finished dwelling and any other out-buildings situate on a lot of ground containing approximately 14 acres . . .” Defendants agreed to and did pay $580 upon the signing of the agreement, and agreed to pay the balance of $5,220 on or before August 1, 1946, when deed and possession were to be delivered.

On August 1st plaintiff, Mrs. Brinton, executed a deed to the premises and on August 6, 1946, the deed was executed by plaintiff, Walter L. Brinton, and was recorded on the same date. Defendants did not pay the balance of $5,220, but offered to pay the sum of $3,706.95, claiming that they were entitled to certain credits, viz.: $580.18, paid by defendants to satisfy a judgment lien on the premises; $4.87, representing [526]*526the pro rata share of plaintiffs for 1946 taxes, and an additional sum of $1,000, the value of certain lumber removed from the premises by plaintiffs. Plaintiffs admit that defendants are entitled to a credit for the amounts paid out by defendants in satisfaction of the judgment lien and for 1946 taxes, but contend that defendants are not entitled to any credit for the value of the lumber. When the agreement of sale was executed there was in the course of construction upon the land a two-story stone and frame dwelling, in which-there was piled a quantity of rough-sawed and unfinished lumber, ultimately intended for use in the completion of the dwelling, and defendants contend that it was the intention and understanding of the parties that the lumber was included in the sale and conveyance of the property.

The contention of defendants in this respect cannot be sustained on the theory that the lumber constituted a fixture. In 1 Thompson on Real Property, p. 256, it is set forth that it is the weight of authority that where articles are brought on land with the intention of annexing them, such articles are considered personal property so long as they remain unannexed. In Blue v. Gunn, 114 Tenn. 414, 87 S. W. 408, it was held that commercial finishing material, such as doors, mantels, casings, etc., not specially made for a building, available for use in any building, and not mentioned in a conveyance of the property, does not constitute fixtures which pass to a purchaser of a property. The court said (p. 418) :

“. . . the question as to the necessity of actual attachment has also arisen as to articles which have not been annexed to the land, but have merely been brought on or near to the land with the intention of annexing them. The great weight of authority is That such articles are still to be considered as chattels.”

In Cook v. Whiting, 16 Ill. 480, it was held that hewed timbers and posts brought on a farm with the [527]*527intention of incorporating them in a granary, did not constitute fixtures and did not pass with a deed of the premises to the purchaser. In Carkin v. Babbitt, 58 N. H. 579, it was held that lumber brought on the premises to rebuild a burned house did not pass as fixtures to the purchaser thereof. The court said that “a mere unexecuted intention of future use is not sufficient” to make chattels part of the realty. In Peck v. Batchelder, 40 Vt. 233, the court held that windows and blinds on the premises, but not yet annexed thereto, did not pass to a purchaser as part of the realty. In Bassett v. Breen, 118 Me. 279, 107 Atl. 832, a case very similar to the one now before us, the. court held that unwrought lumber, blinds, doorframes, window frames, on the premises but not yet annexed thereto, although intended ultimately for use in the partially finished dwelling, did not ‘pass to a purchaser as part of the realty.

While the foregoing represents the weight of authority, there are contrary decisions. In Bryne v. Werner et al., 138 Mich. 328, 101 N. W. 555, it was held that cut stone and structural iron belonging to the owner of a partially completed building, secured by him for use in the building, and lying on the lot, passed by the owner’s deed of the lot containing the building. In Rahm v. Domayer, 137 Iowa 18, 114 N. W. 546, certain finished lumber, doors and transoms were piled in a building for the purpose of completing it. It was held that the articles passed as fixtures to the purchaser of the unfinished building. It will be noted that in both of these cases the articles involved had been specially prepared for use in the building. In the case before us the lumber was rough-sawed and unfinished.

What little authority can be found in Pennsylvania seems in entire accord with the weight of authority. In Johnson et al. v. Mehaffey, 43 Pa. 308, it was held [528]*528that rolls cast for a rolling mill in the mill premises more than two years without being turned or finished off or put into the mill, did not pass to the purchasers as realty. The court said (p. 309) :

“No doubt they (the rolls) were intended to be made part of the mill, but we do not see how we can take the intention, without fact, in order to declare what constitutes the mill. If we do, then the sale of a half-built or half-ruined house would include all of the materials provided for its completion or repair.”

In Maxwell v. Willard, 1 W. N. C. 355, it was held that certain lumber and millwork delivered on the premises for the purpose of being used on the building did not constitute part of the realty. The court said : “We do not know of any decision which treats materials ... in the condition of this as fixtures. The roller cases (Voorhis v. Freeman, 2 W. & S. 116, and Pyle v. Pennock, Id. 390) are the nearest to it; but neither of them go so far as to include raw materials not yet used at all in the building.”

In Big Beaver Creek Corp. v. Beaver County, 37 Pa. Superior Ct. 250, 253, the court said:

“The mere intention to attach, at sometime in the future, raw materials, which have not been especially prepared, to a building or structure, to which they have never been attached and in connection with which they have never been used, is an entirely different matter.

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Bluebook (online)
58 Pa. D. & C. 524, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brimton-v-horn-pactcomplcumber-1947.