Richardson Grain Separator Co. v. Valier Elevator Co.

215 P. 237, 67 Mont. 227, 1923 Mont. LEXIS 96
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 12, 1923
DocketNo. 5,135
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 215 P. 237 (Richardson Grain Separator Co. v. Valier Elevator Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Richardson Grain Separator Co. v. Valier Elevator Co., 215 P. 237, 67 Mont. 227, 1923 Mont. LEXIS 96 (Mo. 1923).

Opinion

HONOEABLE GEOEGE A. HOEKAN, District Judge,

sitting in place of ME. CHIEF JUSTICE CALLAWAY, disqualified, delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an action for the foreclosure of a materialman’s lien. It originated in the district court of Teton county. The plaintiff and appellant herein, Eichardson Grain Separator Company, is a Minnesota corporation, with its headquarters at [230]*230Minneapolis, Minnesota. For convenience it shall be referred to as the Separator Company. The defendant Yalier Elevator Company is a Montana corporation engaged in the elevator business at Yalier, Montana. In this opinion we will designate it as the Elevator Company. The defendant Globe Construction Company is likewise a Montana corporation whose principal business seems to be the construction of grain elevators. We shall refer to it as the Construction Company.

The complaint is in the usual form for the foreclosure of a materialman’s lien, except as to paragraph XI thereof, which reads thus: ‘ ‘ That the aforesaid machinery, material and appliances described in said lien account were sold by the plaintiff to the defendant Globe Construction Company, under a contract by which this plaintiff undertook and agreed to install said machinery in the elevator building of the defendant Yalier Elevator Company, and that the agreed price should not become due and payable, nor the title to said machinery pass, until said machinery had been received, installed and in successful operation. That said machinery was installed and in successful operation in the elevator building of the defendant Yalier Elevator Company, and was accepted and its operation approved by the defendant Globe Construction Company, on or about the 20th day of September, 1917.”

The complaint alleges that the machinery was furnished between September 1, 1917, and October 1, 1917, and that the claim for lien was filed with the county clerk on November 22, 1917, and within ninety days from the furnishing and installing of the machinery and material described therein.

The Elevator Company answered denying that the machinery was furnished between September 1, 1917, and October 1, 1917, or that the claim for lien was filed within ninety days from and after the time when the machinery was sold and delivered. As an affirmative defense it is alleged, in effect, that some time prior to July 6, 1917, the Construction Company and the Elevator Company entered into a contract whereby the former agreed to build and equip with necessary machinery and appli[231]*231anees a grain elevator building on tbe tract of land described in the complaint; that the Separator Company on said day had full and complete knowledge of said contract; that on July 7, 1917, at the request of the Construction Company, the Separator Company sold and delivered to the former at Minneapolis, Minnesota, the machinery and appliances heretofore referred to; that the same were immediately shipped to the Construction Company and were actually received by the latter at Valier, Montana, on July 19, 1917; that at all times the Separator Company well knew that said machinery and appliances were to be installed in and attached to said elevator building and were to become a permanent fixture therein; that within ninety days after the said machinery and appliances were sold and delivered by the Separator Company to the Construction Company, and long prior to the filing of the Separator Company’s pretended lien, the said machinery and appliances were installed in the elevator building by the Construction Company and became and are permanent fixtures therein; that the Elevator Company knew that said machinery and appliances were received by the Construction Company on July 19, 1917; that the Elevator Company never had any notice or knowledge from the Separator Company, or otherwise, that the Construction Company had not been paid for said machinery and appliances until the Separator Company filed its pretended lien, and never had any notice or knowledge of the alleged agreement between the Separator Company and the Construction Company “that the agreed price should not become due or payable, nor the title to said machinery pass until said machinery had been received, installed and in successful operation,” or any other agreement or understanding between the Separator Company and the Construction Company, until receipt of the copy of the Separator Company’s complaint. Other allegations are contained in the answer, but we deem it unnecessary to refer to them.

The Separator Company replied, putting in issue all new matter alleged in the answer of the Elevator Company. The [232]*232cause was tried to the court without a jury. Certain findings of fact and conclusions of law were made by the court, upon which a final decree and judgment was entered in favor of the Elevator Company, holding the claim of lien invalid and dismissing the complaint as to said company. From that judgment plaintiff Separator Company appealed. There are five specifications of error, none of which it is necessary to set out in detail.

The main question to be determined in this case is: Was the [1] claim for lien filed with the county clerk within ninety days after the machinery and appliances were furnished by the Separator Company to the Construction Company? (Rev. Codes 1921, sec. 8340.) The trial court in its findings answered this question in the negative, and this we must accept under the well-established rule of this court, unless it is opposed to the preponderance of the evidence. (Willis v. Pilot Butte Mining Co., 58 Mont. 26, 190 Pac. 124; Loud v. Hanson, 53 Mont. 445, 164 Pac. 544; Street v. Delta Mining Co., 42 Mont. 371, 112 Pac. 701; Kelly v. Granite Bi-Metallic C. M. Co., 41 Mont. 1, 108 Pac. 785; Bordeaux v. Bordeaux, 32 Mont. 159, 80 Pac. 6.)

A careful examination of the record leads us to believe the [2] conclusion reached by the trial court should not be disturbed. We are compelled to analyze the evidence briefly. It shows that on June 16, 1917, a written contract was entered into between the Elevator Company and the Construction Company whereby the latter agreed to build and equip with necessary machinery and appliances an elevator at Valier, Montana, for the former; that the contract provided the machinery to be installed in said elevator should be theo exact machinery which was later furnished by the Separator Company; that the Separator Company had immediate notice and knowledge of the terms of the contract; that on June 4, 1917, the Construction Company entered into negotiations with the Separator Company for the purchase of the machinery in question by giving to one R. J. Carey, .the assistant manager of the Sepa[233]*233rator Company, a requisition or order for said machinery, which reads as follows:

“Globe Construction Company, Great Falls, Montana.

“Order No. 143.

‘ ‘ To Bichardson Grain Separator Co., Minneapolis, Minn.:

“Great Falls, Mont., June 4, 1917.

“Terms:-.

“Ship via.-■.

“Quantity. Description. Price Per.

1 No. 3 (D) Simplex grain cleaner...............$ 685 00

1 No. 5-48" Bichardson wheat and oat separator.. 700 00

1 20" Bichardson attrition mill, with auto feed and scalper ................................ 260 00

1 gang of sieves for flax cleaning................. 37 00

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Bluebook (online)
215 P. 237, 67 Mont. 227, 1923 Mont. LEXIS 96, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richardson-grain-separator-co-v-valier-elevator-co-mont-1923.