Davenport Mammoet Heavy Transport, Inc. v. Entergy Nuclear Generation Co.

16 Mass. L. Rptr. 133
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedApril 22, 2003
DocketNo. 02281B
StatusPublished

This text of 16 Mass. L. Rptr. 133 (Davenport Mammoet Heavy Transport, Inc. v. Entergy Nuclear Generation Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davenport Mammoet Heavy Transport, Inc. v. Entergy Nuclear Generation Co., 16 Mass. L. Rptr. 133 (Mass. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

Troy, J.

Plaintiffs Davenport Mammoet Heavy Transport, Inc. and Mammoet USA, Inc. (“Mammoet”) filed a complaint to enforce a mechanic’s lien against the defendant Entergy Nuclear Generation Company (“Entergy”). Mammoet sought a mechanic’s lien to recover payment of its services in transporting a transformer from Waterford, Connecticut to Plymouth, Massachusetts, and for the cost of placing the transformer on a storage pad at Entergy’s power plant. Mammoet performed these services as a subcontractor under a written contract between Entergy and the now bankrupt Ohio Transformer Inc. a/k/a Grand Eagle (“Ohio Transformer”).

BACKGROUND

Entergy is a Delaware corporation licensed to do business, and is conducting business, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at 600 Rocky Hill Road, Plymouth, Massachusetts. Entergy operates the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In December of 2000, Entergy bought a transformer2 from a company named NSTAR. The transformer was stored at the Millstone Nuclear Power Station in Waterford, Connecticut, awaiting transport to the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. Entergy bought the transformer to serve as a spare in the event that the current transformer operating at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station needed repair or maintenance. In November of 2001, Entergy entered into a written contract with Ohio Transformer which is engaged in the business of general contracting and repairs of nuclear generators. The written contract provided that in exchange for payment from Entergy, Ohio Transformer agreed to, among other things, remove the transformer from the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant in Waterford, Connecticut and deliver it to the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. In addition to transporting the transformer, Ohio Transformer agreed to “dress”3 the transformer at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. The cost of transporting the transformer from the Millstone Power Plant to the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station was $388,000. The cost for dressing the transformer was $132,463.

Through an Order form dated November 30, 2001, Ohio Transformer subcontracted with Mammoet (Purchase order # 560074) which is in the business of transporting heavy equipment and provides labor in the form of transportation, delivery and assembly of heavy equipment and structures. Pursuant to the terms of the invoice, Mammoet agreed to “transport [the] transformer from Millstone Power Plant via truck and barge to Pilgrim Power Plant and set on pad,” in exchange for the payment of $312,640.4 It is undisputed that Mammoet did not contract to perform the dressing of the transformer at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. Rather, Ohio Transformer retained the obligation to perform the dressing in June of 2002.

On or about December 1, 2001, Mammoet completed the transport and placement of the transformer at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. On or about December 5, 2001, Ohio Transformer billed Entergy in the amount of $388,000, for its services pursuant to the contract. Entergy then paid Ohio Transformer $388,000.

After Mammoet transported the transformer, but before it was paid by Ohio Transformer, Ohio Transformer filed for bankruptcy.5 Because Mammoet has not been paid, on February 5, 2002, Mammoet filed a Notice of Contract and Statement of Account in the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds establishing a mechanic’s lien against Entergy, pursuant to G.L.c. 254, in the amount of $312,640.

[134]*134On May 28, 2002, Entergy answered the complaint and filed a verified counterclaim seeking to dissolve the mechanic’s lien pursuant to G.L.c. 254, §15A. On September 11, 2002, defendant/plaintiff-in-counterclaim Entergy filed a motion for summary judgment. That motion is before the court.

DISCUSSION

Summary judgment is appropriate where there are no genuine issues of material fact and where the summary judgment record entitles the moving party to judgment as a matter of law. Kourouvacilis v. Gen. Motors Corp., 410 Mass. 706, 713-14 (1991). The moving party bears the burden of affirmatively demonstrating that there is no genuine issue of material fact. Pederson v. Time, Inc., 404 Mass. 14, 17 (1989). The court decides any conflicts in the materials and all logical permissible inferences in favor of the non-moving party. See Willitts v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, 411 Mass. 202, 203 (1991).

A. G.L.c. 254, §1

Prior to 1996, G.L.c. 254, §1 (“the mechanic lien’s statute”) provided in pertinent part that:

[a] person to whom a debt is due for personal labor performed in the erection, alteration, repair or removal of a building or structure upon land, by virtue of an agreement . . . shall . . . have a lien upon such building or structure and upon the interest of the owners thereof in the lot of land . . .

Id. The statute was highly criticized because it set forth a narrow definition of claimants, which limited mechanic lien rights to those who furnished labor and materials for “a building or structure.” See Lizza, The Massachusetts Mechanic’s Lien Law, §3.1, at 3-2 (MCLE 2001). By restricting the type of claimants entitled to a mechanic’s lien, a number of entities including landscapers and road building and paving contractors, who improved the value of land, were excluded from the protection of the mechanic’s lien statute. 81 Mass.L.Rev. 167 (1996).

In an attempt to resolve concerns regarding the scope of the statute, and after holding meetings and obtaining input from contractors, subcontractors, bankers, title insurers and other interested parties, the Legislature amended the statute in 1996. 81 Mass.L.Rev. 167 n.7 (1996). The pertinent parts of the amended mechanic’s lien statute provide that:

[a] person to whom a debt is due for personal labor performed in the erection, alteration, repair or removal of a building or structure upon land or improvement or alteration to real property, by virtue of an agreement with . . . the owner ... or of a person having authority from or rightfully acting for such owner in procuring or furnishing such labor, shall . . . have a lien upon such building or structure and upon such interest in such real property, land, building, structure, or improvement owned by the party authorizing or consenting to said work...

G.L.c. 254, §1, amended by St. 1996, c. 364, §1.

The amended G.L.c. 254, §2, provides that:

[a] person entering into a written contract with the owner of any interest in real properly, or with any person acting for, on behalf of, or with the consent of such owner for the whole or part of the erection, alteration, repair or removal of a building, structure, or other improvement to real property, or for furnishing material or rental equipment, appliances, or tools therefor, shall have a lien upon such real property, land, building, structure or improvements owned by the party with whom or on behalf of whom the contract was entered into . . .

G.L.c. 254, §2, amended by St. 1996, c. 364, §2. The new statutory language, among other things, “expand[ed] the scope of property subject to mechanic’s liens; the nature of labor, materials and equipment for which a lien [could] be claimed; and the types of contract upon which a lien [could] be based.” Lizza, The Massachusetts Mechanic’s Lien Law, §3.1, at 3-1 (MCLE 2001).

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Related

Pederson v. Time, Inc.
532 N.E.2d 1211 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1989)
Kourouvacilis v. General Motors Corp.
575 N.E.2d 734 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1991)
Willitts v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston
581 N.E.2d 475 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1991)
Tremont Tower Condominium, LLC v. George B.H. Macomber Co.
767 N.E.2d 20 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
16 Mass. L. Rptr. 133, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davenport-mammoet-heavy-transport-inc-v-entergy-nuclear-generation-co-masssuperct-2003.