Randall v. Wagner Glass Co.

94 N.E. 739, 47 Ind. App. 439, 1911 Ind. App. LEXIS 58
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 7, 1911
DocketNo. 6,815
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 94 N.E. 739 (Randall v. Wagner Glass Co.) 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
Randall v. Wagner Glass Co., 94 N.E. 739, 47 Ind. App. 439, 1911 Ind. App. LEXIS 58 (Ind. Ct. App. 1911).

Opinion

Felt, J.

— On November 29, 1905, appellee People’s Loan and Trust Company, trustee, filed suit in the Madison Circuit Court against appellants and the other appellees, to foreclose a trust deed on certain property and for the appointment of a receiver. On that day Albert A. Small was appointed, and he duly qualified as, receiver of appellees Wagner Glass Company, International Glass and Bottle Company and Ingalls Gas Company, and by order of court took charge of all the property of said concerns. On October 4, 1906, on the intervening petition of appellee Henry Wagner, the court ordered all the property of said concerns sold by-said receiver, which sale was thereafter duly made and reported to and approved by the court on November 17, 1906. On November 26, 1906, appellants filed their intervening petition in said cause, setting up their itemized claim for material furnished said Wagner Glass Company and Ingalls Gas Company, and a copy of a mechanic’s lien duly filed on October 21, 1905. On December 3, 1906, the court ordered all claims filed on or before December 15, 1906. On January 29, 1907, said intervening petition of appellants was submitted to the court for finding and judgment thereon, and the court found that there was due to appellants from appellees Wagner Glass Company and Ingalls Gas Company the sum of $701.38, but denied their right to a lien or preferred claim, on the ground that their intervening petition was filed more than a year after the recording of the mechanic’s lien. Appellants were parties to the proceedings when the property was ordered sold, which property included that described in appellant’s notice of a mechanic’s lien, and the order of sale provided “that all liens of whatsoever kind existing upon or against” the property should be “transferred from the property to the fund arising from the sale thereof, and that the rights and interests of the parties to this suit in and to said property * * * be and [441]*441the same shall be transferred to the fund arising from the Sale.” Appellants filed a motion for a new trial, on the ground that the decision of the court on their intervening petition was contrary to law and not sustained by sufficient evidence, and the overruling of this motion is the error assigned and relied upon by appellants.

1. Looking to tlio statute, appellants had until October 21, 1906, to file a suit to foreclose their lien. The property was ordered sold on October 4, 1906. On November 26, 1906, appellants filed their intervening petition to fix the amount of their claim and declare their lien, which was within the time, in fact preceded the date, fixed by the court for that purpose.

The precise question here presented is, "Were appellants bound to assert their lien within the year fixed by the statute, by suit to foreclose or by other affirmative action ? In other words, Does the possession and sale of the property by the receiver, under the order of the court, in a suit to which appellants were parties, draw the whole controversy into equity, and preserve the liens on the property as of the date of the appointment of the receiver? So far as we are able to ascertain, this particular question, as it arises here, has not been decided by this court or our Supreme Court.

2. A mechanic’s, or other, lien upon property is not affected by the appointment of a receiver, and where a sale is made by the receiver the lien attaches to the proceeds of the sale without special order of court to that effect. In this case, however, the order was made. Totten & Hogg Iron, etc., Co. v. Muncie Nail Co. (1897), 148 Ind. 372; American Trust, etc., Bank v. McGettigan (1899), 152 Ind. 582, 71 Am. St. 345; Durbin v. Northwestern Scraper Co. (1905), 36 Ind. App. 123; Mueller v. Stinesville, etc., Stone Co. (1900), 154 Ind. 230; J. W. Dann Mfg. Co. v. Parkhurst (1890), 125 Ind. 317, 321.

[442]*4423. [441]*441While the appointment of a receiver does not change nor destroy existing liens upon property in the custody of a ro[442]*442ceiver, the ordinary procedure to enforce the lien is changed, and before bringing any independent suit to declare or foreclose such lien leave must be applied for and obtained from the court in the case where the receiver was appointed. If the property is to be sold, the well-established rule requires the sale to be made by the receiver under the order and direction of the court, even though liens may have been adjudged in other suits. High, Receivers (4th ed.) §141; Premier Steel Co. v. McElwaine-Richards Co. (1896), 144 Ind. 614, 621; Mueller v. Stinesville, etc., Stone Co., supra.

4. By both statute and judicial decisions, the holder of a mechanic’s lien in Indiana is required to begin suit to foreclose such lien within one year from the time of filing his notice for record, or from the expiration of any credit given, and this rule must apply here, unless the facts shown take the ease out of the general rule, and warrant the application of the equitable rule preserving all liens as of the date of the appointment of the receiver. §8299 Burns 1908, Acts 1889 p. 257, §4.

The statutory rule has been applied in favor of the holder of a mortgage junior to the mechanic’s lien, where the mortgagee was not made a party to the foreclosure of the lien. Deming-Colborn Lumber Co. v. Union, etc., Loan Assn. (1898), 151 Ind. 463; Stoermer v. People’s Sav. Bank, etc. (1899), 152 Ind. 104; Union Nat., etc., Loan Assn. v. Helberg (1899), 152 Ind. 139.

1. But in none of these cases had the property passed into the hands of a receiver and been sold by order of the court made within the year allowed to begin foreclosure of the mechanic’s lien, as in this case. And, in this ease, all liens on the property were by order of court transferred from the property to the fund derived from the sale. An application for leave to foreclose the lien, or other action on the part of appellants, could not have changed the status of the lien, unless we are compelled literally to [443]*443follow the statute, notwithstanding the proceedings in the receivership. Our courts have adopted the equitable rule in preserving, managing and selling the property, in adjusting the amount and priority of claims, and in the disbursement of funds. It would be unreasonable and out of line with our procedure to have the case in part governed by equitable principles and in part by statutory rules of law. We find no reason for making an exception to the equitable rules governing receiverships, when considering appellant’s intervening petition which was filed in ample time to comply with the orders of the court.

While the precise question before us has not been decided, our Supreme Court, in passing upon other questions, has indicated a decision. In the case of Mueller v. Stinesville, etc., Stone Co., supra, the court said on page 234: “The court, having sequestered the common insolvent debtor’s property for distribution among the creditors, must proceed in such a way as will preserve the priorities and equities, as they existed when the receiver was appointed.”

In the case of American Trust, etc., Bank v. McGettigan, supra, it is said on page 587: ‘

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
94 N.E. 739, 47 Ind. App. 439, 1911 Ind. App. LEXIS 58, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/randall-v-wagner-glass-co-indctapp-1911.