National Home Building & Loan Ass'n v. McAllister

64 Ill. App. 143, 1896 Ill. App. LEXIS 860
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 27, 1896
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 64 Ill. App. 143 (National Home Building & Loan Ass'n v. McAllister) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Home Building & Loan Ass'n v. McAllister, 64 Ill. App. 143, 1896 Ill. App. LEXIS 860 (Ill. Ct. App. 1896).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Shepard

delivebed the opinion of the Couet.

This was a bill filed by appellants to foreclose a mortgage made by the appellee, Mollie O. McAllister. The appellees, John M. Graff, William M. Seymour, and John H. Forshew, copartners under the name of Graff & Company, were made parties defendant with the mortgagor, and answered asserting their right to a mechanic’s lien upon, the mortgaged premises.

The decree that was entered found that there was due to the appellant $15,801.86 upon its mortgage, and that there was due to Graff & Co. $607.30, for which they were entitled to a mechanic’s lien against the mortgaged premises; that the whole value of the mortgaged premises was $15,000, of which the land was $4,000, and the improvements $11,000; that the sum due to complainants was a first lien on the land, but as to the improvements it was second and subject to the lien of Graff & Company for said sum so found to be due them.

' This appeal questions the correctness of the decree in the matter of priority, as between the appellant and Graff & Co., and nobody but the appellant complaining in such regard, we shall consider only what affects that single question.

The contract of Graff & Co. with reference to the premises in question was to furnish and set up “ four hot blast furnaces ” in the building which constituted the improvement upon the mortgaged land.

The affidavit which formed a part of the statement of claim for mechanic’s lien filed in behalf of Graff & Co., in purported compliance with Sec. 4 of the mechanic’s lien act, in force at the time of filing such statement, states: “ That the work in connection with the furnishing and the erection of the said furnaces for the said Mollie O. McAllister was commenced on the 10th day of August, 1893, and completed on the 3d day of December, 1893, as set forth in the said statement, marked Exhibit A, as aforesaid.

Affiant further says that the amount of said statement, marked Exhibit A, and made a part of this affidavit, as aforesaid, was due on the completion of the work connected with the furnishing and erection of the said furnaces in the said flat building of the said defendant, Mollie O. McAllister,” etc.

I The statement in said Exhibit A, as to the time of doing the work was as follows:

“ The work in connection with the furnishing and erection of the said four hot blast furnaces in the said building having been commenced on the 29th day of July, 1893, and completed on the 3d day of December, 1893.”

The provisions of sections 4 and 28 of the mechanic’s lien act, are, so far as is material in this connection, as follows: • “Sec. 4. Every creditor or contractor * * * shall tile with the clerk of the Circuit Court * * * a just and true statement or account or demand due him, after allowing all credits, setting forth the time when such material was furnished or labor performed.

Sec. 28. No creditor shall be allowed to enforce a lien created under the provisions of this act, as against or tó the prejudice of any other creditor or incumbrancer or purchaser, unless a claim for lien shall have been filed with the clerk of the Circuit Court, as provided in section 4 of this act.”

These two sections are in pari materia, and are tobe construed together.

And in order that a contractor may enforce a lien under them- the statement provided by section 4, to be filed by him, must set forth “ as therein particularly described,” the time when the material was furnished or labor performed. McIntosh v. Schroeder, 154 Ill. 520.

And it was held in the last cited case, following Campbell v. Jacobson, 145 Ill. 389, although without referring to that former decision, that the two sections apply to the original debtor with whom the contract was made, as well as to creditors, purchasers, or incumbrancers.

The holding has been uniform that a statement of the time when the materials were furnished, is one of the requirements of the statute. McDonald v. Rosengarten, 134 Ill. 126; same case, 35 Ill. App. 71; Fried v. Blanchard, 58 Ill. App. 622; O’Brien v. Krockiniski, 50 Ill. App. 456.

A statement, therefore, like that in this case that the mar terials and work were furnished between certain dates, or, as having been began on the 10th day of August, 1893, and completed on the 3d day of December, 1893,” as said in the affidavit, and as commenced on the “29 th day of July, 1893, and completed on the 3d day of December, 1893,” as said in the statement accompanying the affidavit, is not a compliance with the statutory requirement in regard to time.

Ho one, except the appellant, finding fault with the decree, it will be affirmed in so far as the lien of Graff & Company is thereby established against the premises, but in so far as that lien is given, priority upon the improvements over the lien of appellant, the decree must be reversed, a reversal to that extent seeming to be all that appellant is entitled to, and the cause is remanded to the Superior Court, with directions to enter a decree accordingly, and give to appellant a first lien upon both land and improvements. Affirmed in part, and reversed in part, and remanded with directions.

Additional opinion by Mb. Justice Shepaed.

Since the foregoing opinion was filed we have seen the opinion of the Supreme Court in Blanchard v. Fried, filed May 12,1896, and recognizing the spirit of the decision there announced to be opposed to the views we have expressed in regard to the statement of the time when the materials and work were furnished and performed, we retract our holding in that regard, and hold that the statement, or claim for lien, was sufficient.

So holding, necessitates our consideration of another question. The contract between Graff & Co. and Mollie O. McAllister was in the form of a written proposition and acceptance to do the work for $600, on which $50 ivas paid.

At the time of contracting for the furnaces, Graff & Co. made an agreement with one A. E. Mick, who was the stepfather of the appellee, Mollie O. McAllister, and her agent in the matter, as follows :

“ Chicago, July 31, 1893.

This memorandum witnesseth, that Graff & Company have sold to Mollie O. McAllister four furnaces, including hot air stacks, pipes and registers, to put in building 7040 and 42 Eggleston avenue, through her agent, A. E. Mick, said work to be done for six hundred dollars. We further agree to pay said A. E. Mick two hundred dollars as commission as agent for making the said sale of four furnaces, per their proposition, signed July 29, 1893.

Graff & Co.,

Smith & Bright, Managers,

Per Frank Tully.”

Regarding this commission contract, Frank Tully, who signed it for Graff & Co., and represented them in the matter, testified as follows:

“ Q. Will you state how you happened to make this contract with Mr. Mick ? A. They (Mollie McAllister and Mick) Avere building this particular house and three others, and they Avere to have heating apparatus in each of them.

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Related

Shields v. Sorg
129 Ill. App. 266 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1906)
Carlson v. Anderson
66 Ill. App. 663 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1896)

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64 Ill. App. 143, 1896 Ill. App. LEXIS 860, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-home-building-loan-assn-v-mcallister-illappct-1896.