Continental Supply Co. v. Geo. H. Greenan Co.

1928 OK 519, 282 P. 598, 140 Okla. 221, 1928 Okla. LEXIS 948
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 11, 1928
Docket18178
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 1928 OK 519 (Continental Supply Co. v. Geo. H. Greenan Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Continental Supply Co. v. Geo. H. Greenan Co., 1928 OK 519, 282 P. 598, 140 Okla. 221, 1928 Okla. LEXIS 948 (Okla. 1928).

Opinion

FOSTER, C.

This is an action by George H. Greenan Company to foreclose a mechanic’s lien against an oil pipe line, a right of way and a pump station, said pipe line and right of way running across Kay county, Oklahoma.

Greenan sought to recover a judgment for $24,40S against the Moore Refining Company under two written and one oral contract, one written contract executed January 8, 1924, and thé other March 4, 1924.

The contract of January 8, 1924, provided for a 4-inch pipe line from the Oklahoma-Kansas line in a southeasterly direction across Kay county and into Osage county for the sum of 15 cents per lineal foot; and the contract of March 4th provided for a 3-ineh line from a pump station located about one mile from the Osage and Kay county line, and to extend into Burbank oil field in Osage county for the sum of 13 cents per lineal foot.

The oral contract provided for the laying of a 4-inch line from the Oklahoma-Kansas line to a refinery located in Arkansas City, which the Moore Refining Company was operating under a lease.

The labor performed for laying the pipe lines under the provisions of the contract, as above set out, was listed in the statement attached to the mechanic’s lien sued upon, herein in the following manner: (1) For work done on 129,772 feet of 4-inch line at 35 cents per foot; (2) for work done on 28,-335 feet of 3-inch line at 13 cents per foot; Í3) for work done on 15,000 feet of 4-inch line at 13 cents per foot; In addition to these items, there was also the following: (4) For painting 20 miles of 4-inch line at $52.S0 per mile: and (5) extras, repairing leaks, hold up for right of way.

The five items, asi above set out, made the only itemized list attached to Greenan’s lien statement on which suit is brought in this casé. The lien statement, which was in the total sum of .$26,746, showed a credit of $2,338, which was the balance of a $3,00? payment made by Moore Refining Company after deducting $663, which was due to George H. Greenan personally for work previously done.

The Continental Supply Company, in its answer and cross-petition, after denying that Greenan had any lien on the property and denying that Moore Refining Company owned the pipe line, alleged that there was paid to Greenan the sum of $10,000 not shown in the lien statement, and also denying the right to apply the $663 as above set out.

The Continental Supply Company asked for and obtained a judgment against the Moore Transportation Company in the sum of $127,000, which was due for the sale of the pipe laid by Greenan Company along the said right of way, and obtained a foreclosure of a mortgage executed by the Moore Transportation Company in said sum, which mortgage was given for the purchase price of the pipe and was filed for record on August 1, 1924, it being filed as a chattel mortgage, although the Continental Supply Company attempted to file it as a real estate mortgage also but was refused by the county clerk.

The amount due to Greenan Company was entirely for labor, it being agreed under the terms of the contracts that the Moore Refining Company was to furnish all the pipe. The pipe was purchased from the Continental Supply Company and sold vo Moore and Perry, as trustees for Moore Transportation Company.

It appears that when the Moore Refining Company made application to purchase the pipe, the Continental Supply Company refused to extend the credit, and there was an agreement that a new company should be formed, known as the Moore Transportation Company, to which the right of way should be assigned and by which the title to the right of way and pipe line should be held. This company was organized without the ■knowledge of Greenan Company. The title to the right of way was never transferred, but was held by the Moore Refining Company. Greenan did not know of the organization of this company, nor of the arrangements between the Continental Supply Company and Moore and Perry, who were the managing officers of both companies, until long after its labor was performed.

The contracts under which Greenan’s work was performed provided that the line should be tested, and that any leaks occasioned by poor material should be repaired at the expense of Moore Refining Company.

The $10,000 item mentioned above was paid on or about March 16, 1924, but no credit was given for this check until the day *223 of the trial of this case, some two and a half years later. At the time Greenan Company received this $10,000 payment, the Moore Refining Company was indebted to it in a like sum for the construction of a pipe line to the Burbank oil field, which was completed before entering into the contracts here involved. The Moore Refining Company had given its note to Greenan, and Greenan had assigned it to Exchange National Bank at Tulsa, but had endorsed same and was still liable thereon. Greenan held the $10,000, intending to apply it on this note, if Moore Refining Company did not pay the same. This note was paid after the filing of the lien in this case, and on the day of trial the court permitted Greenan to apply the $10,000 on amounts due for work performed in Kansas and Osage counties, Okla., as shown by the lien statement, leaving all the balance due for work performed in Kay county. There was a dispute as to when the work was completed, but the court found that the work was completed on or about April TO, 1924, and the lien in this case was filed on July 19tli.

A judgment was entered in favor of Greenan Company for the sum of $14,408.06 (the amount sued for less the $10,000 credit), together with an attorney’s fee of $2,000 and a foreclosure of the lien on the right of way and pipe line laid across Kay county as above described, and also on the pump station located in Kay county.

The court also granted judgment for the Continental Supply Company against the Moore Transportation Company for the full amount sued for, and a foreclosure of its mortgage against the pipe line above described, but held that the lien of Greenan was superior to the mortgage in favor of the Continental Supply Company.

The defendants, Moore Transportation) Company, Moore Refining Company, E. H. Perry and George N. Moore, do not. deny any of the amounts claimed by either party. The appeal in this ease is taken from the judgment in favor of Greenan Company against Moore Refining Company, and for a foreclosure of its lien and the order declaring it to be a superior lien to that of the Continental Supply Company. No appeal was taken from the judgment in favor of the Continental Supply Company.

The principal question presented in this appeal is whether or not the lien, if any, of Greenan Company is superior to that of the Continental Supply Company. There are many assignments of error alleged by the Continental Supply Company, but we believe they may be condensed into the following propositions:

(1) That according to the evidence in this case, the lien was not filed within time.

(2) That the lien in this case covered three different contracts, two of which were written and one oral, and under the law of the state of Oklahoma, one lien cannot cover more than one contract.

(31 That the lien in this casé being claimed under section 7461, O. O. S.

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Bluebook (online)
1928 OK 519, 282 P. 598, 140 Okla. 221, 1928 Okla. LEXIS 948, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/continental-supply-co-v-geo-h-greenan-co-okla-1928.