Glasco Electric Co. v. Best Electric Co.

751 S.W.2d 104, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 619
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 3, 1988
Docket52107, 52138
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 751 S.W.2d 104 (Glasco Electric Co. v. Best Electric Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Glasco Electric Co. v. Best Electric Co., 751 S.W.2d 104, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 619 (Mo. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

SIMON, Presiding Judge.

Defendants, Westview Health Care Associates (hereafter the “Company”), Lee F. Sutliffe, Westview Center, Inc. (hereafter "Westview”), Midwest Capital Corp., the Industrial Development Authority of Jefferson County (hereafter the “Authority”), and Michael C. O’Flaherty, appeal from a judgment and decree entered by the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Missouri, encumbering property owned by the Company with a mechanic’s lien in the amount of $24,563.65. Plaintiff, Glaseo Electric Company (hereafter “Glaseo”), cross-appeals from the trial court’s refusal to declare that said mechanic’s lien be given priority over the deed of trust securing the construction loan.

On April 15, 1983, the Company entered into a construction contract with Essex Contracting Inc. (hereafter “Essex”), for the construction of a nursing home known as the Westview Nursing Center (hereafter the “Westview project”). Essex, as general contractor, subcontracted with Best Electric Company (hereafter “Best”), for the electrical work on the project.

The Company had obtained financing for the Project from the Authority through an offering and sale of $3,975,000 in Nursing Home Revenue Bonds. The loan from the Authority is secured by a document styled “Deed of Trust, Mortgage and Security Agreement.” It was executed on April 1, 1983, and recorded in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds for Jefferson County, Missouri, on May 6, 1983. On April 1, 1983, the Authority entered into a separate indenture of trust with Mercantile Trust Company, N.A., (hereafter “Mercantile”) in order to secure the payment of the bond issue.

On June 18, 1984, Glaseo served written notice of its intention to file a mechanic’s lien on the Company and its general partners, Lee F. Sutliffe, Westview, and Midwest Capital Corp., by certified mail. Glas-co’s verified mechanic’s lien statement was recorded in the office of the Circuit Clerk of Jefferson County on June 29, 1984. Glasco’s lien statement consists of a mechanic’s lien form, together with 78 exhibits made up of photocopies of Glasco’s unpaid invoices to Best (hereafter referred to as the invoices). The total amount claimed to be due under the account set forth on the lien is $24,563.65. The lien recites that the first item of said account was furnished on or about January 31, 1984, and the last *106 date the materials were furnished was May 7,1984. However, the invoices attached to the lien statement begin January 4, 1984, and the testimony of Dennis Karius, credit manager for Glaseo, shows that invoices No. 1 through No. 39 were dated prior to January 31, 1984. Karius testified, however, that Glaseo is claiming a lien on the items listed in invoices No. 1 through No. 39, and that the correct dates are the invoice dates.

On August 9, 1984, Glaseo filed a twelve count petition seeking to enforce its mechanic’s lien for materials supplied, to recover for goods sold to Best, and to recover on a promissory note executed by Larry Best, president of Best Electric Company, and his wife, Ruth Best. Glasco’s petition was amended on December 6, 1984, and Count XIII was added seeking to recover for goods sold to Best. Counts II through XI also contained claims against Best for various items sold on different accounts. Count I contained the mechanic’s lien claim and Count XII contained the claim on the aforementioned promissory note. By the time of trial, the trial court had entered partial summary judgment on Counts II through XI and on Count XIII, in favor of Glaseo and against Best. No appeal has been taken therefrom. On April 9 and 10, 1986, trial was had before the Circuit Court of Jefferson County on Counts I and XII. Judgment was entered in favor of Glaseo on both Counts. The instant appeal and cross-appeal concerns only Count I, as Larry and Ruth Best have not appealed the individual judgment against them on Count XII.

The Authority and Michael C. O’Flaherty were joined in the action to impress the mechanic’s lien. O’Flaherty served as the trustee under the “Deed of Trust, Mortgage and Security Agreement,” given by the Company to the Authority. However, Mercantile Trust Company, N.A., serving as “corporate trustee” under the separate indenture of trust securing the bond issue, was not made a party to the action. In February, 1985, Glaseo moved to join Mercantile as a defendant, but said motion was later withdrawn and Mercantile was purportedly dismissed as a party defendant. Glaseo also filed a brief with the trial court in February, 1985, admitting that an en-cumbrancer not joined, in this case Mercantile, would not be bound by the proceedings.

An issue at trial involved the sufficiency of the description of the materials supplied by Glaseo, as set forth in the account contained in the lien by the 78 invoices. Ed Kasten, Glasco’s branch manager, was able to identify various trade terms and references that appeared on certain invoices. He explained the meaning of abbreviations used in the electrical industry that appeared on certain invoices, and he testified that he was familiar with most of the descriptions provided on the invoices attached to the mechanic’s lien. For example, he testified that the item description “1 TW CONDUIT — EMT,” contained in invoice number 17, referred to a one inch thin, three wall conduit made of metal tubing. He testified that the item description “LEV 5821-1 8W IV SQL RCPT,” contained in invoice number 40, referred to a duplex ivory receptacle. Kasten testified that most of the item descriptions contained in the invoices are designed for persons in the electrical industry and that the items described in the invoices were of a type that would be used in the Westview project. Kasten testified further that Best had never protested that materials ordered from Glaseo were not received.

Robert Mayberry, an employee of Davis Electric Co. which contracted to supply labor to Best on the Westview project, and an electrician for 23 years, testified that there were a good number of items listed on the invoices that he could not identify. Mayberry testified, however, that as foreman for Davis Electric, he had no doubts that all of the materials furnished by Glas-eo were actually installed in the Westview project.

Dennis Karius, credit manager for Glas-eo, specifically reviewed eleven of the invoices attached to the mechanic’s lien and testified that eight were either partially or completely illegible.

*107 Robert Church, the electrical estimator responsible for bidding on jobs for Best, testified that Glaseo was its majority supplier of electrical materials for the project. Church testified that his responsibilities on the project included ordering major items for the job, as well as making on-site inspections. Church testified that there was never a time when material ordered from Glaseo was not received and that there was never an occasion when material ordered from Glaseo, designated for use in the project, was used in a project other than Westview. Church testified that it was his responsibility to insure that the materials ordered from Glaseo were used at the Westview project and that to the best of his knowledge, all of the materials described in the invoices were actually installed in the Westview project. Church also testified that the prices he had been quoted by Glaseo seemed fair and reasonable.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
751 S.W.2d 104, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 619, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/glasco-electric-co-v-best-electric-co-moctapp-1988.