Fishback v. Foster

202 P. 806, 23 Ariz. 206, 1922 Ariz. LEXIS 121
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 4, 1922
DocketCivil No. 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 202 P. 806 (Fishback v. Foster) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fishback v. Foster, 202 P. 806, 23 Ariz. 206, 1922 Ariz. LEXIS 121 (Ark. 1922).

Opinion

McALISTER, J.

This is an action in replevin by Ferdinand Fishback, as administrator of the estate of Arthur Fishback, in which he seeks to recover from E. J. Foster, defendant, possession of an automobile, and from a judgment against him and a denial of his motion for a new trial he appeals.

A seven-passenger automobile, bearing Oklahoma license No. 84519 for the year 1918, was left for storage in the Jackson Garage at Holbrook, Arizona, in December, 1918, or January or February, 1919, and remained there until February 7, 1920. Harry Jackson was owner of the business carried on at this garage when the car was received, but C. H. Edmunds became its proprietor and the assignee of its accounts, including those for storage, on July 7, 1919, as a re-[208]*208suit of a deal between Mm and Jackson. The name of the owner of this car did not appear on the books of the garage, and Edmunds testified that he was unable to ascertain to whom it belonged, so he advertised in the “Holbrook Tribune” of the issues of January 16 and 23, 1920, that he would sell it at public auction on January 26, 1920, under and by virtue of sections 3673 and 3674, Revised Statutes of 1913, for the purpose of satisfying his lien thereon for a storage charge of $91 and costs of sale, describing it in the notice as one Oldsmobile automobile, owner unknown. The sale, however, did not occur that day, but was continued by public oral announcement in the presence of those attending to February the 7th following, when the car was sold to E. J. Foster, the highest bidder, for $133, a bill of sale being then and there executed and delivered. Appellee bases his ownership and right of possession upon the validity of this sale, while appellant contends that he was not divested of his title and right to possession thereby, because there is in Arizona no lien on an automobile for storage charges in favor of garagemen, and consequently all proceedings had in the foreclosure of one are void. Whether or not Edmunds, the garage-keeper, had, under the facts of this case, a lien covering his charge for storage, is the principal query pre-.( sented by this appeal.

The ruling in favor of appellee could only have been based upon the theory that he did, but it does not appear from the findings, judgment, or any other portion of the record what kind of a lien — statutory, common law, or equitable — though according to the notice of sale, which included two other automobiles belonging to different persons, the foreclosure proceedings were had under and by virtue of sections 3673 and 3674, Revised Statutes of 1913, the former of which authorizes a person who has repaired with [209]*209labor or material, or both, any article, implement, utensil, or vehicle, to retain possession thereof until the amount due for such repairs is paid, while the latter section provides for a sale of the property retained for the purpose of satisfying the lien thus created. There was, however, no charge for repairs, but only for storage on the car in question; hence no lien could have arisen thereon under section 3673. But, notwithstanding the notice was that the lien created by section 3673 would be foreclosed, it is now claimed that a garageman’s lien for storage attached under paragraph 3672 of the Revised Statutes of 1913, reading as follows:

“3672. Proprietors of livery or public stables, shall have a special lien on all animals placed with them for feed, care and attention, as also upon such carriages, buggies, vehicles or other equipments, as may have been placed in their care, for the amount of the charges against the same.”

The authorities, however, seem to be agreed that a statute giving liverymen a lien for the care and keep of animals, or for keeping or storing vehicles, cannot be extended to include a lien on automobiles for storage charges. “The garage-keeper is like unto the livery-stable keeper, but he comes not within the language of the statute” (Smith v. O’Brien, 46 Misc. Rep. 325, 94 N. Y. Supp. 673), and “statutory liens cannot be extended by the courts to cases not provided for by the statute.” 17 R. C. L. 600, par. 7. Berry on Automobiles, third edition, in paragraph 1317, states the rule thus:

“Statutes giving livery-stable keepers a lien for boarding or pasturing animals, or who in connection therewith keeps or stores vehicles, do not apply to garage-keepers. The livery-stable keeper had no lien at common law, so a garage-keeper must have a statute of his own if he is to have a lien.”

[210]*210To the same effect are the following: Babbitt on the Law Applied to Motor Vehicles, § 672; Hnddy on Automobiles, §881; Smith v. O’Brien, supra.

, It is true, however, as contended by appellee, that the term “vehicle” has been held to apply to automobiles, and properly so, but, even though a garage be a modern substitute for the livery-stable, to hold that the term “livery-stable keepers” includes garagemen would be contrary to the fact, and constitute judicial legislation, pure and simple. There is no question but that a garageman has, under section 3673, in his capacity as a “mechanic, artisan or other workman,” a lien on an automobile (it being within the class designated “vehicles”), for his labor,' material, or both furnished in'its repair, but he must look to the legislature if he desires a statutory lien covering his charges for storage, because paragraph 3672 was enacted solely for the benefit of the liveryman, and the fact that he has been in large measure supplanted by the garageman would not justify the court in substituting the latter term for the words, “proprietors of livery or public stables,” as they are used in paragraph 3672, or in reading it into this section along with them when it was not placed there by the legislature. From the horse-drawn carriage to the motor-driven car is a tremendous step forward in the evolution of transportation, and the conditions resulting from such progress necessarily produce new problems demanding new legislation, but it is the duty of the law-making and not of the judicial branch of the government to supply it.

But it is urged that the facts entitled Jackson and his assignee, Edmunds, to a common-law lien, since it is provided in paragraph 3687 of the Code that nothing in title 19, denominated “Liens,” “shall in any manner affect or impair other liens arising at common law or in equity.” A lien, being merely a right to de[211]*211tain an article until certain charges respecting it are paid, is at common law dependent upon possession, and, according to the authorities cited above, a garage-keeper, like a livery-keeper, has none for his storage charges, because the automobile kept in the garage, like the animal or vehicle cared for in the livery-stable, is subject to the owner’s control, and may he taken from the garage at his will. But the car in question remained in the garage from the time it was received there until it was sold to appellee, and it is argued in consequence that the garageman had continuous possession, which renders the common-law rule denying liverymen a lien inapplicable. Harry Jackson’s testimony that it was received in his garage for storage, coupled with the fact that it was not taken out and used by its owner,. Arthur Fishback, previous to his death in June, 1919, nor afterwards by the representative of his estate, or anyone else interested therein, indicates that there was neither an express nor implied agreement that the owner might have the use of it when he so desired. Under these conditions the common-law rule is stated in 28 Oyc.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
202 P. 806, 23 Ariz. 206, 1922 Ariz. LEXIS 121, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fishback-v-foster-ariz-1922.