Cooper v. Hunter

569 S.W.2d 852, 1978 Tenn. App. LEXIS 298
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedMarch 31, 1978
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 569 S.W.2d 852 (Cooper v. Hunter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cooper v. Hunter, 569 S.W.2d 852, 1978 Tenn. App. LEXIS 298 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

OPINION

TODD, Judge.

With the concurrence of participating judges, .the original opinion has been abridged for publication.

The defendant, Thomas W. Hunter, has appealed from the Chancellor’s decree upholding plaintiff’s lien claim for labor and materials and ordering the interest of appellant in certain realty sold to satisfy the lien.

Other defendants are not before this Court on appeal.

There are three assignments of error, of which the first and third are as follows:

[853]*853“ONE: The lower Court erred in overruling your defendant’s Motion to Dismiss for failure to file the Notice of Lien within ninety days of the date of the last work.
THREE: The lower Court erred in holding that the preponderance of the evidence established that the subcontractor’s work was not ‘substantially completed’ until the electrical inspection was passed.”

In November, 1973, Thomas W. Hunter and wife, June Hunter, obtained title to the tract of land in question.

On February 21, 1974, Mr. and Mrs. Hunter agreed to lease to The Southland Corporation a store building to be constructed on the land.

On April 3, 1974, Mr. Hunter contracted with George Patton Builders, Inc., as general contractor to construct the required building.

At some time thereafter, Patton employed plaintiff as subcontractor to furnish the necessary materials and labor for completion of the electrical facilities of the building.

Plaintiff began work on May 31, 1974. The date of his last work is at issue.

In the middle of September, 1974, the building was substantially complete, Hunter paid the general contractor in full, and the tenant started paying rent.

Plaintiff testified that his work was 99.9% complete on October 26. On October 31, the city electrical inspector refused to approve the electrical work because of minor deficiencies therein which he listed as follows:

“a) Failure to install two connectors in the grounding area for each outlet;
b) The switch must be properly attached to the building (locknuts need to be tightened) and groundwires need to be moved;
c) The contents of the electrical box were mislabeled.”

On November 19, 1974, the electrical work was again inspected and approved.

On January 27,1975, plaintiff filed in the Register’s office of Rutherford County a “Notice of Furnisher’s Lien” claiming a lien against the subject property (described as property of Mr. and Mrs. Hunter). Said notice contains the following statement:

“Said lien is to secure the payment of the sum of $3,750.00 for labor and materials furnished to George Patton Builders, Inc., in the making of improvements to the above described property which said labor and materials were furnished and used under a contract with George Patton Builders, Inc. through October 26, 1974.”

On April 25, 1975, plaintiff filed his complaint alleging:

“The last materials furnished and work performed was October 26, 1974.”

On September 29, 1976, plaintiff filed an amended complaint stating:

“The last material furnished and work performed was January 13, 1975.”

Defendant moved to dismiss because both owners of the property were not included in the suit and answered that timely notice of lien was not given as required by law.

As stated, the Chancellor sustained a lien in favor of plaintiff and against only the interest of Mr. Hunter in the property.

The plaintiff’s “Notice of Furnisher’s Lien” stated the last work was done on October 26, 1974. His complaint, filed on April 25, 1975, contained the same statement. On September 29, 1976, 17 months after filing his complaint, plaintiff finally filed an amended complaint changing the date of last labor from October 26, 1974, to January 13, 1975.

The Chancellor would have been more than justified in refusing to allow the amendment at so late a date under the circumstances.

This Court has difficulty in agreeing with the Chancellor’s finding of fact (that the [854]*854notice given on January 27,1975, was within 90 days of completion of plaintiff’s contract).

On the subject of the date of last work, the evidence is as follows:

1. Plaintiff, himself, admitted in his complaint that the last work was October 26, 1974. Such admission was a formal, judicial admission for 17 months, and ceased to be such only when amended by leave of the Chancellor; but even after amendment, the original complaint remains as an informal, evidentiary admission. Raines v. Jones, 23 Tenn. (4 Humph.) 490 (1844); McEwen v. Jenks, 74 Tenn. (6 Lea) 289 (1880); Hewgley v. General Motors Acceptance Corp., 39 Tenn.App. 553, 286 S.W.2d 355 (1956).
2. The plaintiff subsequently testified that he had “discovered” a work record for January 13,1975, which is not exhibited to the record. The only written evidence in this regard is an informal list of days worked with number of men working and number of hours worked. The list is entirely in blue ink except the last two items, which are in black ink. They are,
10-26 2 men 8 hours.
1-13 2 men 3 hours.
Said list of items is of very doubtful admissibility as a business record and of doubtful credibility under the circumstances.
3. The testimony and record of the electrical inspector, Eubanks, indicates that he refused final approval on October 31, 1974; that another permit was purchased by plaintiff on November 5, 1974; and that the work was again inspected and finally approved on November 19, 1974.- Obviously, if any work was done by plaintiff after October 31,1974, it was done after the issuance of the new permit on November 2 and before final approval on November 19.
4. The nature of the work done after October 26, 1974, is uncertain. The best evidence of same is the testimony of the inspector that two connectors were missing, locknuts needed to be tightened, ground connections in the switch box should be moved, and labeling needed correction.
5.Plaintiff, himself, testified that his work was 999/io% complete on October 26, 1974. This percentage is superior to the well known advertisement of “9944/ioo% pure.”

In recognition of the general rule that credibility is for the Trial Judge, this Court will not revise the obvious finding of the Chancellor that the electrical inspector was mistaken and plaintiff’s belated “discovery” of a work sheet represented the true facts.

Nevertheless, plaintiff must fail because of his uncontroverted and conclusive admission under oath that on October 26, 1974, his work was 999/io% complete, and the uncontradicted evidence that, as of October 26, 1974, the building had been accepted, paid for and put to use by the owners.

In Dunn v. McKee, 37 Tenn.

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Related

Davis v. Smith
650 S.W.2d 47 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1983)
Brumit v. Graybeal Glass Co.
609 S.W.2d 521 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1980)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
569 S.W.2d 852, 1978 Tenn. App. LEXIS 298, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cooper-v-hunter-tennctapp-1978.