First State & Savings Bank v. Oliver

198 P. 920, 101 Or. 42, 1921 Ore. LEXIS 142
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJune 21, 1921
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 198 P. 920 (First State & Savings Bank v. Oliver) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
First State & Savings Bank v. Oliver, 198 P. 920, 101 Or. 42, 1921 Ore. LEXIS 142 (Or. 1921).

Opinion

BEAN, J.

Having given a general history of the different deals claimed to affect the status of the property in suit, we will endeavor to outline more minutely the situation, use and purposes of the motor [47]*47and two pumps in question; this with a view of determining whether or not the property involved was a part of the real estate. Defendant Oliver never obtained title to the real property. It appears that he secured ownership and possession of the personal property sold by Reames to McKillop, and in turn transferred by McKillop to Oliver, who executed to the plaintiff a chattel mortgage. Whatever right Oliver then had to the property in question passed by way of the mortgage to plaintiff.

We should start with Mr. Reames’ ownership. He owned all of the farm and fixtures and personal property sold and transferred to McKillop. We shall pass without further mention many of the side issues, and also conclusions stated by the witnesses as to what part of the property was real and what personal, and try to observe the concrete facts which govern the main question. It appears the farm is situated on the bank of the Klamath River. There were two pump-houses on the land, with a centrifugal pump in each used for pumping water from the river to irrigate the land. One of the pumps rested on timbers and the other also on timber resting on concrete. Both were securely fastened to their foundations with screws. The ten-horse power electric motor was fastened to a timber frame resting on the concrete foundation and connected with electric wiring, and remained on the place when the property was transferred to McKillop. Possession was taken by Oliver under the contract of purchase from Mc-Killop. The motor was so arranged that the electric wire could be detached, and the motor and its frame placed upon a sled and moved to the other pumping plant where it fitted the foundation and could be securely screwed down to the same. Sometimes the motor was so moved and used. It usually remained [48]*48in one of the places. Mr. Reames, while on the stand as a witness for plaintiff, testified in regard to the-motor in part thus:

“Q. In connecting the motors with the wires, wasn’t that fixed in such a way it was easily disconnected so it could be moved easily?
“A. Well, we had to disconnect the wires from the-switch and then take off the switch and move that down from the other place and then connect up there,, the same as moving any motor.
“Q. The motor was not set in any permanent, foundation, was it, like a cement foundation, anything like that?
‘ ‘A. At one — at the stand where it was used principally, there was a concrete foundation with timbers, on that and also the pump on the same timbers. The-motor was on the other timbers that set on that, we-screwed down to it and made it stationary so as to-remain true and firm.”

One of the pumps was sometimes used for pumping-water in order to drain the land. The motor and pump appear to have been a part of the irrigation system connected with and used upon the land. They were essential for the purposes of irrigation and drainage of the land. How long this system had been in use or when it was placed upon the land does not clearly appear.

1. In deciding whether an article used in connection with real property should be considered as a fixture and a part and parcel of the land, as between a grantor and a grantee or mortgagor and mortgagee, the usual tests are: (1) real or constructive annexation of the article to the realty; (2) appropriation or adaptation to the use or purposes of the realty with which it is connected; (3) the intention to make the annexation permanent.

[49]*492. The intention of making the article permanently accessory to the real property is to he inferred from the nature of the article, the relation of the party making or maintaining the annexation, the policy of the law in relation thereto, the structure and mode of annexation, and the purpose and use for which it is made: 19 Cyc. 1039; Bay City Land Co. v. Craig, 72 Or. 44 (143 Pac. 911); Johnson v. Pacific Land Co., 84 Or. 356, 361 (164 Pac. 564); Roseburg Nat. Bank v. Camp, 89 Or. 67, 74 (173 Pac. 313); Blake-McFall Co. v. Wilson, 98 Or. 626 (193 Pac. 902). In the case of Roseburg Nat. Bank v. Camp, supra, at page 75, Mr. Justice Harris, speaking for this court said:

“Annexation, actual or constructive, is an essential element. Pure examples of constructive annexation are found in cases where after having been actually annexed an article is severed from the realty for some temporary purpose. * * In the instant case the pipe and giants can be removed without impairing them or injuring the land and therefore the single element of annexation is not conclusive. As was said by this court in Doscher v. Blackiston, 7 Or. 144, 146: the courts in many of the states have abandoned the notion that to constitute an irremovable fixture the article must be attached to the land by bolts or nails or be imbedded in brick or stone. * * ”

It is the trend of judicial opinion to regard all of those things as fixtures which have been attached, whether physically or constructively to the realty with a view to the purposes for which the real property is held or employed, however slight or temporary the connection between the articles and the land. The important element to be considered is the intention of the party making the annexation. Neither the intention existing at the time of procuring the article nor that which exists while the same is being transported [50]*50to the real property where it is designed to he placed, nor the secret plan- in the mind of the person making the annexation govern. The controlling intention is that which the law deduces from all of the circumstances of the installation of the article upon the land: Roseburg National Bank v. Camp, supra, and cases there cited.

3. In the recognition of these formulated general tests which may be applied in passing upon the question, it is obvious that they do not establish definite criteria. Each case must be determined, not only upon the circumstances and nature of the annexation and the use to which the property is employed, but also on the relations of the parties. These tests are subject to the qualification that the rights of the parties are liable to be controlled by special agreement: 11 R. C. L., p. 1059, § 3. We read in 11 R. C. L., p. 1061, § 5, thus:

* ‘ The second test, namely, the adaptation or application to the use or purpose of that part of the property with which it is connected, is generally considered as entitled to much weight, especially in connection with the criterion of intention, * * the tendency being to regard everything as a fixture which has been attached to realty with a view to the purposes for which the realty is held or employed, however slight or temporary the connection between them. So generally it may be said that if property is placed on land to improve it and make it more valuable it is generally deemed a fixture, but that if it is attached for use which does not enhance the value of the land it remains a chattel.”

4.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
198 P. 920, 101 Or. 42, 1921 Ore. LEXIS 142, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-state-savings-bank-v-oliver-or-1921.