Gil Ruehl Mechanical, Inc. v. Hartford Fire Insurance Co.

164 S.W.3d 512, 2004 Ky. App. LEXIS 360, 2004 WL 2914933
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedDecember 17, 2004
DocketNo. 2003-CA-001250-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 164 S.W.3d 512 (Gil Ruehl Mechanical, Inc. v. Hartford Fire Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gil Ruehl Mechanical, Inc. v. Hartford Fire Insurance Co., 164 S.W.3d 512, 2004 Ky. App. LEXIS 360, 2004 WL 2914933 (Ky. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

OPINION

TAYLOR, Judge.

Gil Ruehl Mechanical, Inc. (Gil) brings this appeal from a June 10, 2003, Order of the Campbell Circuit Court, dismissing its complaint to recover against the surety of a mechanic’s lien release bond. We affirm.

In 2001, Gil was a plumbing subcontractor involved in the construction of Joe’s Crab Shack (Joe’s) in Bellevue, Kentucky. Gil alleged the general contractor, AGB Capital Properties, Inc., failed to pay it for services performed in the construction of Joe’s. As a result, Gil filed two “liens” on March 11, 2002. Landry’s Seafood House-Bellevue, Inc., the operator of Joe’s, secured a mechanic’s lien release bond from Hartford Fire Insurance Company (Hartford). The bond specifically provided that it was executed pursuant to Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 376.100.

On March 12, 2003, Gil filed an action against, inter alios, Hartford asserting a claim for “Foreclosure on Bond in Lieu of Mechanic’s Liens.” Hartford filed a motion to dismiss under Ky. R. Civ. P. (CR) 12 based upon expiration of the statute of limitations. Hartford argued the applicable statute of limitations for an action against a surety on a mechanic’s lien re[513]*513lease bond was found in KRS 376.090.1 Hartford pointed out that KRS 376.090 provides the limitation period for an action to enforce a mechanic’s lien. Thus, Hartford argued that KRS 376.090 is also the limitation period for an action against a surety upon a mechanic’s lien release bond. Under KRS 376.090, an action to enforce a mechanic’s lien must be filed within twelve months of filing the lien. Hartford pointed out that the liens were filed March 11, 2002, and the action was filed March 12, 2003, one day outside the limitation period. Thus, Hartford claimed that KRS 376.090 barred Gil’s action upon the release bond.

Gil countered that KRS 413.220 represented the proper statute of limitation.2 Under KRS 413.220, an action against a surety upon a bond must be brought within seven years of filing the bond. As the mechanic’s liens were discharged upon filing the bond, Gil argued that KRS 413.220 was the applicable statute of limitations and that its action was timely filed.

The circuit court agreed with Hartford that KRS 376.090 was the proper statute of limitations and that Gil’s action to enforce the mechanic’s hen release bond was untimely filed. By order entered June 10, 2003, the circuit court dismissed Gil’s action to enforce its claim against Hartford as surety on the release bond. This appeal follows.

Upon review of a motion to dismiss under CR 12, all factual allegations contained in the complaint must be admitted as true and there must exist no set of facts upon which recovery could be had. The facts relevant to this appeal are materially undisputed. We are called upon to decide a single legal issue — whether KRS 413.220 or KRS 376.090 is the proper statute of limitations for an action to recover against the surety upon a mechanic’s hen release bond. For the reasons hereafter stated, we hold that KRS 376.090 provides the proper limitation period for an action to recover against the surety of a mechanic’s hen release bond.

To determine the apphcable statute of limitations for an action to enforce a mechanic’s hen release bond, our analysis must begin with the only case in this Commonwealth interpreting our release bond statute, KRS 376.100.3 In Jungbert v. [514]*514Marret, 313 Ky. 338, 231 S.W.2d 84 (1950), the Court was faced with the question of whether an invalid mechanic’s hen operated to extinguish liability upon a mechanic’s hen release bond. The Court answered in the affirmative by interpreting KRS 376.100 as creating a bond that is a “mere substitute for the hen property.” Id. at 85. The Court explained that in enacting KRS 376.100, the General Assembly’s intent was:

[T]o provide a method only of freeing the property of the hen in order that the owner might make disposition of the property, and that the obligation of the bond should not extend beyond the obligation of the hen for which it was substituted.

Jungbert, 231 S.W.2d at 85. In accordance with this intent, the Court concluded that “[t]he prerequisite for the effectiveness of the bond is the existence of a valid hen on the property.” Id.

In essence, the Court adopted a view that the release bond merely transfers the mechanic’s hen from the real property to the bond. See Gerald B. Treacy, Comment, The Release Bond Statutes: Achieving Balance in the Mechanics’ Lien Laws, 28 UCLA L.Rev. 95 (1980). Under such view, the statutory mandates necessary to estabhsh a valid mechanic’s hen must be satisfied in order to recover against the surety upon the release bond. 53 Am. Jur.2d Mechanics’ Liens § 314 (1996).

KRS 376.090 codifies the statute of limitations apphcable to an action to enforce a mechanic’s hen. While most statutes of limitations are procedural in nature, an exception is recognized:

[Wjhere a statute gives a right of action, or creates a liability, which did not exist at common law, and makes limitation of time an essential element of the cause of action, in which case the running of the limitation period will not only bar the remedy, but also the right conferred. ...

54 C.J.S. Limitations of Actions § 11 (1987)(footnotes omitted). In such circumstances, the statute of limitations is regarded as a substantive restriction upon a statutorily created right.

It is well known that a mechanic’s lien is a creature of statutory law and did not exist at common law. Additionally, KRS 376.090

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Related

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
164 S.W.3d 512, 2004 Ky. App. LEXIS 360, 2004 WL 2914933, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gil-ruehl-mechanical-inc-v-hartford-fire-insurance-co-kyctapp-2004.