Kieldsen v. Wilson

43 N.W. 1054, 77 Mich. 45, 1889 Mich. LEXIS 712
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 18, 1889
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 43 N.W. 1054 (Kieldsen v. Wilson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kieldsen v. Wilson, 43 N.W. 1054, 77 Mich. 45, 1889 Mich. LEXIS 712 (Mich. 1889).

Opinion

Sherwood, C. J.

This suit is brought by the plaintiff against defendant to establish and enforce his lien against a quantity of pine and hemlock logs under Act No. 229, Laws of 1887. On April 11, 1888, plaintiff filed his statement of lien, and on April 14 commenced his suit by writ of [46]*46attachment to enforce the same. The declaration, which is in the usual form in such cases, was duly filed after personal service of the writ, and defendant appeared and pleaded issuably in the case. The cause was tried before Judge Aldrich, in the Missaukee circuit, with a jury, and the plaintiff obtained judgment for the sum of $359.52, and defendant brings error. The record is large, and contains all the evidence in the ease. Fifty-four errors are assigned upon the record.

The plaintiff’s claim is that on January 20, 1888, he made a contract with defendant to haul certain logs on what was known as the “Kenneth Campbell Job,” for $2.50 per thousand for pine, and $2 per thousand for hemlock; that at this time Campbell had hauled a considerable amount of logs, and defendant agreed to pay plaintiff- for hauling those logs if plaintiff would pay Campbell’s men who had done the work what was then due them; that it is conceded that plaintiff paid the men, and that defendant paid plaintiff for such hauling done by Campbell.

Plaintiff also claims that a subsequent agreement was made by which defendant was also to pay him for hauling what were known as the “Deucy Trespass Logs” at the rate of $4.50 per thousand feet.

Plaintiff further claims, as is conceded, that there were 1,241,143 feet of pine logs, and 247,215 feet of the hemlock, and he further claims there were 31,114 feet of the Deucy trespass logs; that the hauling of the pine and hemlock logs amounts to $3,597.29; and he concedes that he has been paid $3,300, leaving a balance due plaintiff of $297.29, and a sum amounting to $62.23 owing for hauling the Deucy logs, making the entire sum due plaintiff $359.52 on account of the above-mentioned logs; that the question of lien in the case is of but little consequence, defendant being not only the debtor but owner [47]*47of the logs; that it is not material whether the plaintiff should have a lien for the logs put in or not that have been paid for, the jury having found for plaintiff upon his theory of the case that he was to pay the men who worked for Campbell in hauling logs, and defendant was to pay him for the logs so hauled.

It is further claimed by plaintiff that the jury, in finding a verdict for the plaintiff, sustained his theory upon ■all the material points, and the main questions are therefore closed by the finding. Plaintiff further contends that not all the timber he hauled was scaled and reported, and that the amount omitted entitled him to have from the defendant 8181.50 more under his contract, which would make his total claim against defendant, at the time of bringing suit, §541.02.

The contention of the defendant is that a contract was entered into between defendant and Campbell prior to the alleged contract with plaintiff, and by which Campbell agreed to cut, skid, haul, and bank the timber in question at the agreed price of 83.50 for the hemlock, and $4.50 for the pine; that Campbell, during the summer and fall of 1887, cut and skidded all of said timber, and that the same was ready to be hauled and banked during the ensuing winter; that under said contract it was agreed that Campbell should have from the defendant $2 per thousand for the pine, and $1.50 per thousand for the hemlock, as fast as the timber was cut and ready to be hauled; that estimates of the amounts so cut and skidded were made at various times, and that payments were made to Campbell accordingly.

Defendant further denies that any contract was ever made by him or his agent with plaintiff to haul the timber, but that plaintiff became involved with Campbell by furnishing him supplies, and to save himself from loss induced Campbell, by false representations, to [48]*48deliver over the job as it then stood to him, said plaintiff; that no contract relations whatever ever existed between plaintiff and defendant other than those which existed by reason of the plaintiff becoming successor to Campbell in the contract between him and the defendant; that the defendant never revoked his contract with Campbell, or authorized the plaintiff to take possession of the work under the same.

Defendant further contends that the amount which was due for cutting, skidding, and hauling the timber referred to upon the completion of the contract was 86,450.39, and that defendant had paid to Campbell, or to his order, thereon, 86,700; that the scaler’s bill for working upon the timber was 8217.55, one-half of which was to be paid by Campbell, making the total amount paid to him upon the job $6,808.77, being an overpayment of 8358.38, which defendant claims Campbell or the plaintiff should repay; that the Deucy timber belonged to defendant, and was reported by the scaler as put in under the contract with Campbell, and for the putting in of which defendant has already paid.

We have now stated the theories of the respective parties, and upon which said cause was tried.

The first point made by the defendant is that the statute under which this suit is brought is not applicable to the plaintiff’s case; that it was not intended by the Legislature, in giving the extraordinary remedy provided in this statute, to include within its provisions the contractor for the work and labor necessary to manufacture forest products into the various articles mentioned in the statute, but only those who actually perform such work and labor; that that class of persons were those needing the remedy provided, and which the common law failed to furnish; that the contractor for the labor could at all times protect himself sufficiently under the common law, [49]*49and by resort to the statutory remedies in force at the time of the passage of the act in question.

An examination of the title as well as the body of the act of 1887 satisfies us beyond any doubt that the position of defendant's counsel is correct upon this point. The lien created by the act is a specific one, for a particular class of claims, which .are based upon the personal labor of claimant, and he can only avail himself of the benefits of the statute by making proof that he has performed personally some portion of the labor for which payment is claimed, and the record fails to show any of that kind of labor performed by the plaintiff.

The next question naturally arising upon the record is, what is the effect of such omission upon the case as presented? The plaintiff's counsel insists that the question is of no consequence in the case, and, if it was, it has been finally disposed of by this Court in Shaw v. Bradley, 59 Mich. 199 (26 N. W. Rep. 331).

Section 12 of the act relates to this subject, and says that —

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Bluebook (online)
43 N.W. 1054, 77 Mich. 45, 1889 Mich. LEXIS 712, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kieldsen-v-wilson-mich-1889.