Hill v. Twin Falls Salmon River Land & Water Co.

125 P. 204, 22 Idaho 274, 1912 Ida. LEXIS 20
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 6, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 125 P. 204 (Hill v. Twin Falls Salmon River Land & Water Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hill v. Twin Falls Salmon River Land & Water Co., 125 P. 204, 22 Idaho 274, 1912 Ida. LEXIS 20 (Idaho 1912).

Opinion

STEWART, C. J.

This is an action brought for the purpose of foreclosing a mechanic’s lien upon the dam, works of irrigation and lands necessarily used in connection therewith, and known as the Salmon River Dam, situated in Twin Falls county, Idaho. While the respondents are joined as plaintiffs in said action, the action is individual and the parties are joined under the provision of sec. 5121, Rev. Codes, which [277]*277provides: “Any number of persons claiming liens against tlie same property may join in the same action.” In considering the case the plaintiffs will be recognized as separate in their respective rights.

The material facts in the ease are stipulated, although there is some oral evidence, but there is no substantial conflict upon any fact which is controlling in determining the rights of the respective parties to the action. The only question to be determined upon this appeal is, whether under the facts of the case as shown by the record, the respondents are entitled to a lien upon the property against which the lien is sought to' be foreclosed.

The cause was tried to the court and findings of fact made and judgment rendered sustaining respondents’ claims of lien and ordering foreclosure thereof. A motion for a new trial was made and overruled, and this appeal is from the judgment and from the order overruling the motion for a new trial.

The facts as shown by the evidence and found by the trial court are as follows: The defendant, the Twin Falls Salmon River Land & Water Company, is the owner of the Salmon River Dam and the land upon which the same is situated, together with certain abutting land necessary for its use. A contract was made between the Twin Falls Salmon River Land & Water Company and one J. T. Hughes by which the company employed said Hughes to haul cement for use in said dam from the railroad station at Rogerson to a point close to the dam, a distance of about seven miles, with the intention of using said cement in the construction of a dam, and such cement was thereafter so used in the construction of said dam and on the property of the defendant company. Hughes employed the plaintiffs to haul a portion of said cement, agreeing to pay therefor the price of $2.25 per ton, which has not been paid by either the defendant or Hughes. The cement hauled and delivered by.the plaintiffs was delivered at a place for storage designated by the defendant, and a large part at the mixer of the defendant and afterward put to use in the dam. In hauling the cement the plaintiffs used their own teams and [278]*278loaded and unloaded the same and performed all the work and labor incident to the transportation of said cement from the town of Rogerson to the works of the defendant, and the defendant knew that the plaintiffs were engaged in hauling the cement and used the same and have received the benefit of the work and labor performed by the plaintiffs.

Upon these facts the court concluded as a matter of law that J. T. Hughes, in employing the plaintiffs, was acting as the agent of the defendant company under the mechanic’s lien laws of the state, and that the respondents were entitled to a lien upon the dam and adjacent property, particularly describing the same, where the improvements were made.

It is the contention of the appellant on this appeal that under the facts as found by the trial court the respondents are not entitled to a lien upon the dam and property of the defendant; that Hughes, the employer of the respondents, was engaged as a carrier to haul freight from Rogerson to the dam. a distance of seven miles, and in doing so did nothing with the building of the dam and was in no way performing labor upon it, and that he did not furnish any material for its construction, and that the employment of the respondents had no relation whatever except that of carrier. The appellant also contends that whatever right the respondents had in the way of a lien was that conferred by the provisions of sec. 3446 of the Rev. Codes, as follows: ‘ ‘ Every person who, while lawfully in possession of an article of personal property, renders any service to the owner thereof, by labor, or skill, employed for the protection, improvement, safekeeping or carriage thereof, has a special lien thereon, dependent on possession, for the compensation, if any, which is due him from the owner, for such service.” And that the right and privilege to a lien for the labor performed by the respondents depend entirely upon the provisions of this section of the Revised Codes, and that the respondents show no rights accruing to them under the provisions of see. 5110 of the Rev. Codes.

It is apparent, however, that the respondents entirely surrendered and waived their rights to a lien, if such rights existed, under the provisions of sec. 3446 of the Rev. Codes, by [279]*279reason of the fact that when the cement was delivered to the appellant and the possession was surrendered to the appellant, the right to a lien ceased, as the right of lien conferred by this section depends wholly upon the possession of the property. The rights, therefore, of the respondents under the facts in this case depend wholly upon see. 5110.

See. 5110 of the Rev. Codes reads in part as follows:

“Every person performing labor upon, or furnishing materials to be used in the construction, alteration or repair of, any mining claim, building, wharf, bridge, ditch, dike, flume, tunnel, fence, machinery, railroad, wagon road, aqueduct to create hydraulic power, or any other structure, or who performs labor in any mine or mining claim, has a lien upon the same for the work or labor done or materials furnished, whether done or furnished at the instance of the owner of the building or other improvement or his agent; and every contractor, subcontractor, architect, builder or any person having charge of any mining claim, or of the construction, alteration or repair, either in whole or in part, of any building or other improvement, as aforesaid, shall be held to be the agent of the owner for the purpose of this chapter.”

Under this statute the legislature evidently intended to grant the right to claim a lien to any person who contributes labor or material for the construction, alteration, or repair of a building or structure upon real property. It will also be observed from the language of this statute that it was clearly the intent of the legislature to grant an absolute lien direct upon the property, to the person who performs labor upon, or furnishes material to be used in a building, structure or other improvement without reference to whether such person performing such labor, or furnishing material, is an original contractor or a subcontractor, or a laborer or a materialman, and without reference to whether there is anything due the original contractor from the person or corporation constructing such building or other improvement. Of course this right is limited by requiring the person claiming the lien to file the claim within the time fixed by the statute, and otherwise complying with the law; and in construing sec. 5110 the distinction [280]*280above referred to should not be overlooked, when such statute is compared with the statutes of other states and the construction put upon the statutes of other states by the courts of the respective states.

In construing this statute we should also have in mind see. 5150, Rev.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

AG Services of America, Inc. v. Kechter
44 P.3d 1117 (Idaho Supreme Court, 2002)
L & W SUPPLY CORP. v. Chartrand Family Trust
40 P.3d 96 (Idaho Supreme Court, 2002)
Electrical Wholesale Supply Co. v. Nielson
41 P.3d 242 (Idaho Supreme Court, 2001)
Great Plains Equipment, Inc. v. Northwest Pipeline Corp.
979 P.2d 627 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1999)
Dale's Service Company, Inc. v. Jones
534 P.2d 1102 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1975)
Weber v. Eastern Idaho Packing Corporation
496 P.2d 693 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1972)
Guyman v. Anderson
271 P.2d 1020 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1954)
Caird Engineering Works v. Seven-Up Gold Mining Co., Inc.
111 P.2d 1267 (Montana Supreme Court, 1940)
Idaho Lumber & Hardware Co. v. DiGiacomo
102 P.2d 637 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1940)
White v. Constitution Mining & Milling Co.
55 P.2d 152 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1936)
Cashman v. Russell
265 P. 606 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1928)
Minnehoma Oil Co. v. Ross
1926 OK 763 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1926)
Nohrnberg v. Boley
246 P. 12 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1925)
Cleveland v. Hightower
1925 OK 190 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1925)
Boise Payette Lumber Co. v. Weaver
234 P. 150 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1925)
McGill v. McAdoo
206 P. 1057 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1922)
Siler Mill Co. v. Charles Nelson Co.
162 P. 590 (Washington Supreme Court, 1917)
Wisconsin Brick Co. v. National Surety Co.
160 N.W. 1044 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1917)
In re the Insolvency of the Bank of Nampa, Ltd.
157 P. 1117 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1916)
Anderson v. Great Northern Railway Co.
138 P. 127 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1914)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
125 P. 204, 22 Idaho 274, 1912 Ida. LEXIS 20, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hill-v-twin-falls-salmon-river-land-water-co-idaho-1912.