Montpelier Light & Water Co. v. Stephenson

53 N.E. 444, 22 Ind. App. 175, 1899 Ind. App. LEXIS 165
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 5, 1899
DocketNo. 2,764
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 53 N.E. 444 (Montpelier Light & Water Co. v. Stephenson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Montpelier Light & Water Co. v. Stephenson, 53 N.E. 444, 22 Ind. App. 175, 1899 Ind. App. LEXIS 165 (Ind. Ct. App. 1899).

Opinion

Comstock, J.

— This action was commenced by appellee, Thomas C. Stephenson, against the Golden Rule Oil Company, James D. Goodin, the Montpelier Light & Water Company, Homer C. McMahon, and Elijah H. Montgomery, to foreclose a mechanic’s lien for work done and materials furnished in the erection of a derrick to be used in the drilling and operating of an oil and gas well, and to be a part of said well. The holders of a gas lease contracted with appellee Stephenson to labor upon, and furnish material for a derrick, to be erected upon the premises covered by the lease, and with appellee Montgomery to furnish materials for the same. Both filed liens for the amount of their;claims. Montgomery was made a defendant, and by his cross-complaint asked to foreclose his lien. The lease contained a forfeiture clause providing that it should become void in the event that no well was completed within sixty days from the date of its execution. The cause was put at issue as to the complaint and cross-complaint, a trial had by the court, and, upon proper request, a special finding of facts made and conclusions of law stated thereon. McMahon and the Montpelier Light & Water Company each excepted to each conclusion of law, and filed their separate motions for a new trial. These motions were overruled and judgment rendered against appellee, Golden Rule Oil Company, in favor of Stephenson and Montgomery on their respective claims, and ordering the sale pi any interest the Golden Rule Oil-Company had in the oil and gas leasehold as described in the complaint and the cross-complaint, and that the proceeds should be applied, after the payment of costs, to the payment of the claims of said Stephenson and Montgomery. Appellants each filed a motion to modify the judgment. Both motions were overruled and exceptions taken.

Appellants have assigned errors jointly and severally. Under the assignment of errors appellants discuss: (1) The sufficiency of the complaint; (2) the sufficiency of the cross-complaint; (3) the action of the court in sustaining demur[177]*177rers to the second paragraph of answer to the complaint and the second paragraph of answer to the cross-complaint; (4) the sufficiency of the finding of facts to support the conclusions of law. Issues were formed and the cause tried as, to the claim of appellant Stephenson upon an amended complaint; that pleading in this opinion is referred to as the complaint.

The first objection urged to the complaint is that it fails to set out the particulars of the contract sued upon, and to set out a bill of particulars. The objection is based upon section 365 Burns 1894, which provides that, where a pleading is, founded on a written instrument or an account, the original,, or a copy thereof, must be filed with the pleading. The complaint states that a bill of particulars is filed therewith, but. it nowhere appears in the record. If the bill is necessary, the statement that it is filed will not supply its place. Ricketts v. Braun, 42 Ind. 316. The contract was verbal to do-certain work for an agreed price. The part of the complaint pertinent to this objection is as follows: “That on the — day of May, 1896, the plaintiff entered into a contract by which plaintiff was to construct on the above described premises a derrick to be used in the construction and operation of an oil and gas well and to be a part of such well. That in pursuance of said agreement the plaintiff constructed said derrick and performed labor and furnished material thereon of the value of $109.81, which sum defendant Golden Rule-Oil Company agreed to pay him therefor, — a bill of particulars of which is filed herewith and made a part of this, complaint, — which labor was performed and which material was used in the erection of said oil and gas well, the last of' which material was furnished and the last of said labor performed on the 20th day of May, 1896. That said oil well was completed before the commencement of this action.”

Appellants cited Stephenson v. Ballard, 50 Ind. 176, which was a suit to foreclose a mechanic’s lien, in which thn [178]*178court held the complaint bad for want of a bill of particulars; and in passing upon the question in that case said that the complaint was not carefully drawn, and that it did not allege a special contract, nor state the terms and price agreed upon for which the materials were to be furnished, and the dwelling house erected; that it did not allege the performance of the contract in full. The court adds: “Had a special contract been, properly averred for the furnishing of the materials and erecting the house, and had a full and complete performance of the contract been alleged, no bill of particulars or more particular statement of the claim would have been necessary. But, as it is not claimed that there was a special contract made by the parties, and fully complied with by the plaintiffs, but only that they furnished materials and did work under the contract, we think that the nature of the plaintiff’s claim should have been more specifically stated.”

The complaint before us alleges that plaintiff contracted to do a particular work for a certain price, and that the work was completed before the commencement of the action. The distinction between the complaint in the case cited and the case before us is obvious. The office of a bill of particulars is to specify more minutely the claim or defense set up. As the complaint avers a contract to do certain things for a particular sum, and that the contract had been performed, a bill of particulars was not necessary.

The second objection made to the complaint is that the Golden Rule Oil Company, at the time of appellee’s employment, held a lease upon the real estate of one James B. Godin, a stipulation in which lease is as follows: “In case no well is completed within sixty days from this date then this grant shall be null and void, unless the second party shall thereafter pay at the rate of $2 per day for each day said completion is delayed,” and that the complaint does not aver that the well had been completed within sixty days from the execution of the lease, or that $2 per day had been paid from the expiration of said sixty days until a well was completed. [179]*179Appellants call attention to the fact that this clause of the lease is one of forfeiture, and gave the lessor the right to forfeit the lease unless the lessee complied with its stipulations; and that had the option of forfeiture been rightfully exercised by the lessor prior to the commencement of this action, complainant would have had no cause of complaint against appellants. Appellants cite authorities to show that the right of appellee Stephenson as against the property in question, could be no greater than the right of the lessee, his employer; that appellee Stephenson for labor performed and materials furnished in building a structure could only acquire a lien extending as far as his employer’s interest and no further. We do not deem it necessary to refer to these authorities. The objection is not well taken because it does not appear from the record that at the time appellee acquired his lien, the lessor had elected to declare a forfeiture. The complaint avers that at the time of the erection of the derrick no forfeiture had been declared.

The sufficiency of the complaint and the cross-complaint is challenged upon the same grounds. Demurrers to them were properly overruled.

Appellants next discuss: the action of the court in sustaining appellee Stephenson’s demurrer to the second paragraph of appellants’ answer to the complaint.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
53 N.E. 444, 22 Ind. App. 175, 1899 Ind. App. LEXIS 165, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/montpelier-light-water-co-v-stephenson-indctapp-1899.