Phelan v. Cheyenne Brick Co.

188 P. 354, 26 Wyo. 493, 1920 Wyo. LEXIS 10
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 29, 1920
DocketNos. 927, 928, 929
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 188 P. 354 (Phelan v. Cheyenne Brick Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Phelan v. Cheyenne Brick Co., 188 P. 354, 26 Wyo. 493, 1920 Wyo. LEXIS 10 (Wyo. 1920).

Opinions

Burgess, District Judge.

These are three cases brought here by proceedings in error from the District Court in and for Laramie County, Wyoming, by Walter Q. Phelan and Helen C. Phelan, defendants below, -to review three judgments fixing and adjudging liens upon certain premises owned by them and providing for the sale thereof for the satisfaction of the liens. By reason of the rise of these cases out of the same general transaction, the identity of some questions and the similarity of others, in all three, they were, by stipulation of counsel, though separate suits, consolidated for trial in the court below. Separate judgments, however, were rendered and separate motions for new trial filed and overruled. Thereupon, one bill of exceptions was prepared, presented and filed, embodying the evidence and preserving the exceptions in all three cases.

This consolidation has been carried into this court, one brief covering all the cases and all the cases being submitted together for consideration and decision.

On August 5, 1915, Walter Q. Phelan and Helen C. Phelan, plaintiffs’ in error here, defendants below, were husband and wife and were the owners of certain unimproved premises situate in the City of Cheyenne, Laramie County, Wyoming, on which day a contract in writing was entered into between Walter Q. Phelan, as the owner,' and D.ugan & Cochran, as the contractors, by the terms of which [501]*501the latter were to furnish all the materials and labor required for the construction of a brick and frame residence on said premises according to the plans, specifications and drawings made by William Dubois, architect, and to complete the same on or before November 5, 1915. The contract was not signed -by Helen C. Phelan, nor was she in any way referred to therein.

The contractors proceeded to the construction of the residence in accordance with the terms of the contract, but failed to completa it in time, and, in fact, never did complete it, but finally abandoned it altogether. The Cheyenne Brick Company, The Grier Dumber Company, and Frank Roedel were all lien claimants who, by virtue of contracts with Dugan & Cochran, had furnished building material and performed labor for them in connection with the construction of said dwelling between August 5, 1915, and the time of the final abandonment of the contract -by Dugan & Cochran. These lien claimants, not having been paid, served each a notice in writing upon Walter Q. Phelan and Helen C. Phelan of intention of filing a lien, and thereafter filed a claim of lien in the office of the County Clerk of Laramie County, Wyoming. Actions were then brought by them to foreclose the liens and judgments were entered adjudging their claims to constitute liens, concurrent with each other, upon the property of Walter Q. Phelan and Helen C. Phelan, and ordering the sale thereof to satisfy said liens.

So many are the points referred to in the brief of counsel for the plaintiffs in error, of which some are meritorious and others not, that we desire to call attention to Section 4599 of the Wyoming 1910 Compiled Statutes, providing that “No exception shall be regarded unless it is material and prejudicial to the substantial rights of the party excepting,” and to state that if, in the course of this opinion, we do not refer to all the matters raised in the briefs, it will be due to the fact that, in our judgment, those omitted come obviously within the inhibition of the statute, and not to any failure on our part seriously to consider them.

[502]*502We shall proceed first to the consideration of the questions common to all the cases, and then take up those peculiar to each of them.

It is insisted by the plaintiffs in error that the interest of Helen C. -Phelan in the premises is not subject to the liens sought to be fastened thereon, because she did not sign the contract between her husband and Dugan & 'Cochran, and was not a party thereto. It is contended by the lien claimants, on the other hand, that her husband in entering into the contract and causing the erection of a dwelling upon the lot owned by them jointly was acting not only for himself but as the agent of his wife, and that her interest was, therefore, as much subject to the liens asserted as his.

Upon this question Section 3817, Wyoming 1910 Compiled Statutes, has a direct bearing. It provides:

“Sec. 3817. ‘Owner’ and ‘proprietor’ defined — Infants and married women. Every person for whose immediate use, enjoyment or benefit, any building, erection or improvement shall be made, shall be included by the word ‘owner’ or ‘proprietor’ thereof, under this chapter, not excepting such as may be minors over the age of eighteen years, and married women; and in case the husband of any married woman shall enter into any contract for the performance of any work, or the furnishing of any material, for which a lien is provided by this chapter for the benefit of the wife’s property, the husband so contracting shall be deemed prima facie to be the agent of his wife owning such property.”

It appearing that the material furnished and work performed by the three lien claimants were for the benefit of the jont property of the husband and wife, a prima facie case was made that Phelan was acting as his wife’s agent in entering into the contract in question, and that she was bound thereby. It then became incumbent upon her, by virtue of this statute, to overcome, if she could, by proper and sufficient evidence, this prima facie case of agency. This she failed to do, and, we may add, did not even attempt to do. Mrs. Phelan was not a witness in any of the cases and there is no testimony whatever that Phelan was not her [503]*503agent in this matter. Phelan testified, but he never said he was not her agent, or that he had no authority frqpi her in causing the construction of the house. He went no further than to say that she was not a party to the written contract with Dugan & Cochran, by which he probably meant that she did not sign the contract and was not referred to therein in any way, which was true. But this is not necessarily inconsistent with the view that he was acting for her as well as himself in making the contract and had authority from her so to do. Phelan’s testimony clearly shows to us, as it must have shown to the trial court, that in the construction of the dwelling he was acting, not only for himself, but for his wife as well, and with her authority. He testified in substance that he and his wife together decided to build a house upon the lot in question; that the house so built was to be home for them; that she selected the plans and specifications for the construction of the dwelling; went with him to the architect to have the plans drawn; signed with him a mortgage upon the premises for the express purpose of obtaining a part, at least, of the money for the construction of the house; and that she was often upon the premises as the work progressed. This conduct of the wife is reconcilable only with the fact that she had either authorized or ratified the act of her husband in causing the construction of the house. It can not, therefore, be maintained that the trial court was not justified in holding that Phelan was his wife’s agent, acting with authority from her in making the contract in question, and that her interest in the property was as much subject to the liens asserted as was his.

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Phelan v. Cheyenne Brick Co.
188 P. 354 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1920)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
188 P. 354, 26 Wyo. 493, 1920 Wyo. LEXIS 10, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/phelan-v-cheyenne-brick-co-wyo-1920.