Buchanan v. Selden

61 N.W. 732, 43 Neb. 559, 1895 Neb. LEXIS 366
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 17, 1895
DocketNo. 5445
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 61 N.W. 732 (Buchanan v. Selden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Buchanan v. Selden, 61 N.W. 732, 43 Neb. 559, 1895 Neb. LEXIS 366 (Neb. 1895).

Opinion

Ragan, C.

Some time in August, 1890, one Perry Selden was the owner of lot 15, in block 47, in the city of Blair, Nebraska, and on said date entered into a contract in writing with the Omaha Building Company, by the terms of which the latter agreed to furnish the material and construct a brick building for Selden on said lot. One L. McGreer & Co. and one P. L. Munroe, both of Omaha, furnished materials to the contractor, the Omaha Building Company, towards the erection of said building for Selden. McGreer & Co. failed, and one Abner A. Buchanan was appointed receiver for the firm. The contracts with McGreer & Co. and with Munroe for the materials which they furnished the contractor, the Omaha Building Company, were made with one H. B, Mayo, the agent of the building company. On the 5th of February,. 1891, McGreer & Co. and Munxoe, for the purpose of securing a lien on said premises of Selden for materials which they had furnished the Omaha Building Company towards the erection of Selden’s building, filed a sworn statement of the amount due them from the building company for suoh material, together with a description of Selden’s property, with the register of deeds of Washington county; and attached to said sworn, statements were itemized accounts of the materials which McGreer & Co. and Munroe alleged they had furnished to the Omaha Building Company. The receiver of McGreer & Co. brought this action in the district court of Washington county to have established and to foreclose a lien on the above described property for the materials which McGreer ■& Co. had furnished said Omaha Building Company towards the erection of said building. Perry Selden, the Omaha Building Company, and Munroe were made defendants to this action. The Omaha Building Company [562]*562made no appearance in the case. Munroe filed an answer in the nature of a cross-petition, and asked to have established and foreclosed a lieu in his own favor against the Selden property for material furnished the Omaha Building Company in the erection of Selden’s building. Selden filed answers to the petition of the receiver and the cross-petition of Munroe denying the validity of their liens. The court rendered a decree dismissing the petition of the receiver and the cross-petition of Munroe, and from that decree they appeal to this court.

We will first dispose of the appeal of the receiver of' McGreer & Co. The.sworn statement of the amount due McGreer & Co. from the Omaha Building Company, the contractor, was filed in the office of the register of deeds-of Washington county on the 5th day of February, 1891.. Was this sworn statement filed within sixty days from the-date that the last item of material was furnished by McGreer & Co. to the Omaha Building Company? There is attached to the sworn statement of McGreer & Co. an itemized account of the material which they allege they furnished the Omaha Building Company. The first date of this itemized bill is “1890, Oct. 13,” and the first item is-“one flight stairs;” then follow twenty-four items without, a date, and then occurs on the bill:

“Dec. 12. 400 ft. casing.
4-¿ cir. casing.
55 ft. apron.
25 ft. thres.
275 ft. win. stops.
1 flagstaff.
•6658 ft. J.
Cartage.”

McGreer & Co., to establish their lien, called as a witness one Ferguson, who testified that he worked for McGreer & Co. about October 13,1890; that he was foreman, and manager and running their mill for them; that while [563]*563he was working for McGreer & Co. he made a contract with one H. B. Mayo — this Mayo was the agent of the Omaha Building Company — on behalf of McGreer & Co., in and by which they were to furnish material towards the erection of Selden’s building; that the account of items attached to the sworn statement of McGreer & Co. was correct ; that the last material furnished under the contract was shipped from Omaha on the 1st day of December, 1890; that there was no written agreement between the parties, and the witness did not remember where the material was to be delivered. The witness identified a shipping bill or receipt signed by the agent of the St. Paul & Omaha Railroad Company at Omaha, December 1, 1890. This shipping bill recited that the railroad company had received from McGreer & Co., to be transported to Blair, Nebraska, and there delivered to H. A. Mayo, “22 bdls. lumber.”

H. B. Mayo also testified in behalf of McGreer & Co. that he, as agent for the Omaha Building Company, made a contract with McGreer & Co. by which the latter were to furnish the Omaha Building Company material for Selden’s building; that the material which McGreer & Co. was to furnish the building company consisted of mill work, such as doors, windows, and interior finish; that he-had examined the sworn statement filed by McGreer & Co. for the purpose of obtaining a lien, and that it appeared to-be correct; that the material mentioned in said sworn statement was furnished to said building company, or to Mayo-for it; that he superintended the construction of the building up to December 1; that the last material was furnished by McGreer & Co. on the 10th day of December, 1890; that he, Mayo, paid the freight at Blair on the 5th of' December on the material shipped to the building company on the 1st of December, but he allowed the material to lie in the depot until the 10th of December, at which time it Avas removed to the building; that the material was allowed to remain in the depot from the 5th to the 10th, at [564]*564his, Mayo’s, request; that in this last shipment were twenty-two bundles of stair railing and some trimming, and some interior stairs for the basement; that the flagstaff mentioned in the itemized account attached to McGreer & Co.’s sworn statement was not in the last shipment; that the ■contract between McGreer & Co. and himself on behalf of the building company was that the former should deliver the material at the building in Blair; that the flight of stairs furnished by McGreer & Co. was an inside flight; that the stairs were not furnished on October 13, 1890, but were in the last shipment.

As traversing or tending to traverse this evidence Selden testified that he was about the building nearly every, day while it was in process of construction, and that to the best of his knowledge no material whatever was delivered at the building after the 1st of December; that Mayo abandoned the work on the 28th or 29 th of November, and was not there after that date; that the flagstaff furnished by McGreer & Co. was put on the building prior to the 28th of November; that he remembers when Mayo abandoned the building, because he left on the afternoon of the 28th or 29th of November without paying his men and never came back to do any more business.

One Vaughn, the architect, also testified in behalf of Selden that he was at the building once every day, and sometimes two or three times ; that the casings for the windows were not delivered at the building prior to the 1st of December, but were in a storehouse across the alley from the building prior to the first of December; that the four and one-half circular casing charged on the sworn statement •of McGreer & Co.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
61 N.W. 732, 43 Neb. 559, 1895 Neb. LEXIS 366, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/buchanan-v-selden-neb-1895.