Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Jones

317 F. Supp. 1285, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12806
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedMarch 1, 1968
DocketCiv. A. No. T-4360
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 317 F. Supp. 1285 (Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Jones) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Jones, 317 F. Supp. 1285, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12806 (D. Kan. 1968).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

TEMPLAR, District Judge.

On November 21, 1967, the plaintiff filed with this Court an interpleader action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1335 and 2361. Plaintiff alleged that it was obligated in the sum of $52,661.04 to the defendant, Mrs. E. A. Jones (Fern Jones), d/b/a Jones Electric Machinery [1287]*1287Company, for electrical work and materials furnished under the terms of a construction contract. The construction contract provides, in part, as follows:

“ * * * however, that neither said contract price nor any part thereof nor any amount agreed upon as additional thereto shall be due and payable until the Contractor shall have executed and/or delivered to Goodyear any and all affidavits, statements, certificates, releases, receipts or waivers required by the state mechanics’ lien laws, or which Goodyear may reasonably require as evidence of the fact that no right to a lien exists in favor of the Contractor, subcontractors, laborers and/or materialmen, Goodyear is expressly authorized by the Contractor to retain out of any money then due or to become due to the Contractor an amount sufficient to discharge such claims and to disburse said amount to the claimants unless prior to such disbursement the Contractor shall have furnished Goodyear satisfactory receipts or waivers from each claimant showing that payment has been received or the right to a lien waived by each.”

The plaintiff further alleges that on September 25, 1967, subsequent to the completion of the contract, plaintiff requested defendant to furnish it with an affidavit as required by the contract but that defendant Jones failed and refused to comply with the request. The plaintiff then filed this action to protect itself from the various claims being asserted against it by debtors of defendant Jones. Fifty-three thousand, fifty-four and 88/100 dollars, the sum owing defendant Jones by plaintiff, has been deposited with the registry of this Court.

The record discloses that on March 10, 1967, the defendant, Universal Surety Company, executed and delivered a labor and material payment bond, in which the defendant Jones was principal and plaintiff was obligee.

On January 5, 1968, the defendants, Duane Post and Bruce Walters, filed an answer and cross-complaint wherein they allege that on September 13, 1966, the defendant, Mrs. E. A. Jones (Fern Jones), d/b/a Jones Electric Machinery Company, through its agent, Ralph Jones, employed the defendants Post and Walters as the two first foremen on the project at regular union wages; that on September 21, 1966, an additional wage agreement was executed whereby defendant Jones agreed to pay defendants Post and Walters the sum of $5,500.00 each, provided they continued as foremen until the job’s completion. The cross-claimants also contend that when the job was completed, the defendant Jones failed and refused to pay the sum contained in the additional wage agreement and as a result, defendants Post and Walters filed a mechanic’s lien as is permitted by the laws of the State of Kansas, and that by virtue of said lien their claim is now superior to the claims of any other defendant in this action. In Count II of the cross-complaint, the defendants allege that after October 8, 1967, subsequent to the completion of the Goodyear contract, additional work was performed for defendant Jones and payment has not been made for that employment, leaving a sum due and owing, of $715.00 to Post, and $699.00 to Walters.

On January 22, 1968, the cross-claimants filed a motion for summary judgment. The primary issues as to Count I of the cross-complaint is whether the $5,500.00 to be paid to each Post and Walters was compensation to be paid for “labor” as set forth in the Kansas Mechanics’ Lien Statute, K.S.A. § 60-1101, and whether Ralph Jones was the authorized agent of defendant Jones, with authority to enter into the wage agreement. The cross-claimants contend they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law and that the sums should be “paid forthwith either out of the funds held by the Clerk of the District Court or by the Universal Surety Company * * *.” On Count II, the cross-[1288]*1288claimants contend they are entitled to the wages alleged to have been earned subsequent to the completion of the contract, and that the money should be paid out of the funds on deposit with this Court, and shared “ * * * - pro rata with the other creditors with the balance remaining as a judgment against the defendant, Mrs. E. A. Jones.”

The cross-claimants, Duane Post and Bruce Walters, in the first count of their cross-complaint base their contention on a written agreement entered into between them and Ralph Jones, who is and was at the time, the authorized managing agent of the contractor Jones Electric Company. The question of agency presents no difficulty. Ralph Jones was held out by the contractor to be her authorized managing agent. The contractor admits the agency and ratifies the agreement.

There is nothing illegal about the agreement nor does anyone in this proceeding contend that it was.

The agreement, though not in technical legal terms, seems clear and free from ambiguity. It simply recites that Walters and Post, the first two foremen on the job, are having difficulty with their union and are under enormous pressure to desert Jones. This agreement bears the date of September 20, 1966, the same date on which Goodyear, the owner, had by telegram accepted the bid of Jones Electric and had directed that the work proceed immediately. Jones declares in the agreement that the presence of Walters and Post is essential for the job’s completion and their continued loyalty to Jones will seriously jeopardize their future employment opportunities. Jones then promises and contracts to pay upon this job’s completion an additional wage in the amount of $5500 each to Post and Walters, “provided that they have continued in my employ to the end of the project.”

Post and Walters urge that the parties to the contract have by its terms made the amount of $5500 to each of them an additional wage and that such additional wages are lienable items under the Kansas Mechanics’ Lien Statute which provides that any person furnishing labor used or consumed at the site of the property subject to a lien under agreement with the contractor may obtain a lien, etc. K.S.A. § 60-1103.

K.S.A. § 60-1101 declares that any person furnishing labor used or consumed for improvement of real property shall have a lien upon the property for the labor and the lien shall be preferred to all other liens, etc.

The question before the Court is more difficult than might appear at first glance. The agreement declares that the added compensation is an “additional wage.” The Court must conclude that the parties to the agreement intended the payment to be wages.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
317 F. Supp. 1285, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12806, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goodyear-tire-rubber-co-v-jones-ksd-1968.