Centex Materials, Inc. v. Dalton

574 S.W.2d 621, 1978 Tex. App. LEXIS 3946
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 16, 1978
DocketNo. 1173
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 574 S.W.2d 621 (Centex Materials, Inc. v. Dalton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Centex Materials, Inc. v. Dalton, 574 S.W.2d 621, 1978 Tex. App. LEXIS 3946 (Tex. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

MOORE, Justice.

This is a suit to foreclose a mechanic’s lien on three separate tracts of land. Plaintiff, Centex Materials, Inc. (Centex), instituted suit in the form of a sworn account against defendants, Chaparral Industries, Inc. (Chaparral), Fred Dalton, its president, and Henry Masur seeking to recover the sum of $2,422.41 for concrete furnished Chaparral in the construction of residences on three separate lots or parcels of land. The three lots or parcels of land, together with the amount alleged to be due and owing on each lot is described as follows:

1. Lot 5 and Lot 7, Block C, West Ridge Estates, Travis County, Texas, $804.83.
2. Lot 5, Block C, West Ridge Estates, Travis County, Texas, $1,146.60.
3. 406 Wallis, Rollingwood, Travis County, Texas, $470.98.

Centex alleged that it had properly perfected a statutory mechanic’s lien on each of the described tracts in accordance with the provisions of Article 5453, et seq., Tex. Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. (Vernon’s Supp.1978), and prayed for a foreclosure on each tract. Each of the defendants answered with a general denial. Defendant, Henry Masur, affirmatively alleged that he purchased Lot 7 from Chaparral without notice of the outstanding indebtedness owed on the lot and was therefore a bona fide purchaser for value. He further alleged that the statutory lien filed by Centex was defective in that it failed to comply with the provisions of Article 5453, supra.

After a trial before the court sitting without a jury, the trial court rendered judgment granting Centex a recovery against Chaparral for the sum of $2,422.41, together with interest and attorney’s fees as prayed for in Centex’s suit on sworn account. The court also entered judgment foreclosing Centex’s mechanic’s lien on the property situated at 406 Wallis, Rolling-wood Addition (item number 3 above). The [623]*623court denied Centex’s prayer for a foreclosure on the parcel of land described as Lot 5 and Lot 7, Block C of the West Ridge Estates Addition (item number 1 above), owned by defendant, Henry Masur, and also denied foreclosure on Lot 5, Block C (item number 2 above). A take nothing judgment was rendered against Centex on its suit against Dalton and Masur, individually.

Centex duly perfected an appeal from the judgment, but in so doing limited its appeal only to that portion of the judgment which denied it a foreclosure of its lien on Lot 7, Block C of the West Ridge Estates subdivision, which Masur purchased from Chaparral. Chaparral did not appeal and the judgment became final as to it. Therefore, the only parties to this appeal are appellant (plaintiff below) Centex and appellee (a defendant below) Henry Masur.

We affirm.

Appellee Masur failed to file a brief. Neither were findings of fact nor conclusions of law filed by the trial court. Consequently, the record before us consists only of the transcript and statement of facts. Where the record on appeal contains no findings of fact or conclusions of law, the well-settled rule is that the appellate court is required to affirm the judgment rendered by the trial court if it can be sustained on any reasonable theory authorized by law and supported by the evidence. Bishop v. Bishop, 359 S.W.2d 869, 871 (Tex.1962); Sanders v. Republic National Bank of Dallas, 389 S.W.2d 551, 554 (Tex.Civ.App.—Tyler 1965, no writ history).

Centex contends under its second point of error that the trial court erred in refusing to order a foreclosure on the house and lot owned by defendant Masur, situated on Lot 7, Block C, as described in item number 1 above. The record reveals that Chaparral was in the business of building and selling homes. Centex was in the concrete business and sold concrete to Chaparral on an open account. At the time the concrete was delivered to each of the three lots or parcels of land in question, Chaparral was the record owner of the lots. After the residence had been constructed on Lot 7, Chaparral represented that there were no unpaid bills and sold the same to Henry Masur on November 19, 1976. It is undisputed that Masur never owned any interest in Lot 5 and had nothing to do with the construction of the house thereon. While the record is not clear, it appears that Lot 5 was sold to some third party who is not a party to this suit.

The record shows that in attempting to perfect its statutory lien on Lot 7, Centex filed two mechanic’s lien affidavits with the County Clerk of Travis County on December 16, 1976. Both of the lien affidavits appear to be identical except for the fact that one recites that Chaparral and Fred Dalton were the owners of Lot 5 and Lot 7, while the other recites that Henry Masur was the owner of Lot 5 and Lot 7. Both lien affidavits recite that Centex was asserting a lien for the sum of $804.83 for concrete furnished to “Lot 5 and Lot 7,” Block C, West Ridge Estates, a subdivision of Travis County, Texas. (Emphasis supplied.) The record shows without dispute that Lot 5 and Lot 7 are not contiguous, being separated by an intervening lot.

Thus we are presented with a situation where a lien claimant has attempted to fix a statutory lien on two noncontiguous lots or parcels of land and now seeks a judgment foreclosing a lien on one of the parcels. The question to be determined is whether or not, under such circumstances, the statute can be held to confer a lien on either one of the two tracts or parcels of land which are not contiguous. We are of the opinion that the question must be answered in the negative.

Article 5452, paragraph 1, Tex.Rev.Civ. StatAnn. (Vernon’s Supp.1978), gives one who may furnish materials to erect or repair any house, building or improvement a lien upon “ . . . such house, building, fixtures, improvements . . .” and on the “. . . lot or lots of land necessarily connected therewith . . . ” Article 5458, Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann., provides:

“If this lien is against land in a city, town or village, it shall extend to or into the lot [624]*624or lots upon which such house, building or improvement is situated, or upon which such labor was performed; and if the lien is against land in the country, it shall extend to and include fifty acres upon which such house, building or improvements are situated, or upon which such labor has been performed . ”

In the early case of Guaranty Sav. Loan & Investment Co. v. Cash, 99 Tex. 555, 91 S.W. 781 (1906), the Supreme Court of this state had occasion to address itself to the problem of whether our mechanic’s lien statutes could be construed to confer a lien upon three houses and lots for the whole price of the work and material furnished where the lots were not contiguous. In holding that such a lien would not be in compliance with the statute, the court said at page 782:

“The leading purpose running through these and the other provisions of the statute is to secure persons furnishing labor or materials in improving land by a lien upon that into which the labor or material has entered; i. e., the structures and the land to which they are attached. .

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574 S.W.2d 621, 1978 Tex. App. LEXIS 3946, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/centex-materials-inc-v-dalton-texapp-1978.