Wolfley v. Hughes

71 P. 951, 8 Ariz. 203, 1903 Ariz. LEXIS 60
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 20, 1903
DocketCivil No. 793
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 71 P. 951 (Wolfley v. Hughes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wolfley v. Hughes, 71 P. 951, 8 Ariz. 203, 1903 Ariz. LEXIS 60 (Ark. 1903).

Opinion

DOAN, J.

This is an action to enforce a mechanic’s lien. The plaintiff in the court below, Moses Hughes, who is the sole proprietor of the foundry known as the Standard Iron Works in Phoenix, Arizona, furnished to the defendants Lockwood & Philes certain castings for the repair of a Huntington mill located on the Sacramento mill-site in Maricopa County. The first casting furnished was ordered on the 14th of January, 1901, at a price of fifteen dollars. This casting proved unsatisfactory, and was broken up and returned to the foundry by the defendants, who were credited with $11.91 as its value for scrap-iron, and upon the order of the defendant Philes the other castings, consisting of a false bottom and three yokes, of the value of $110.22, were then made at the foundry under his supervision, and were delivered to the defendants on February 26, 1901, and used by them in repairing the mill upon the mill-site aforesaid. The castings, except the credit [206]*206of $11.91, were not paid for. On May 9, 1901, the plaintiff filed his claim for a mechanic’s lien upon the aforesaid mill and mill-site, his verified account embracing all the above items at the price of $125.22, and showing the credit thereon of $11.91, stating the balance due to be $113.31, and on July 31, 1901, brought this action for the foreclosure of the mechanic’s lien. On March 18, 1901, one C. F. Chapman brought suit against the defendants Lockwood & Philes, attached the property herein mentioned, and recovered judgment therein against said defendants, and thereafter, on July 5, 1901, the property was sold by the sheriff of Maricopa County under the said judgment, and was purchased at the sheriff’s sale by Lewis Wolfley.

On the trial of this case Wolfley filed a separate demurrer and answer to the complaint of Hughes, and contested the case in the lower court. The trial court overruled the demurrer to the complaint, and, after hearing the evidence, found that between the fourteenth day of January, 1901, and the twenty-sixth day of February, 1901, the plaintiff, Hughes, at the request of the defendants Lockwood & Philes, furnished and delivered to them certain castings for use upon and in the repair of the Huntington mill situated on the Sacramento mill-site; that the said eastings were actually used in the repair of the said mill; that the defendants Lockwood & Philes agreed with the plaintiff to pay therefor on demand; that the castings furnished on the 14th of January were of the value of fifteen dollars, and those furnished on the 26th of February were of the value of $110.22; that the plaintiff duly filed his claim for lien on account of furnishing the said materials on the ninth day of May, 1901, for the purpose of perfecting his mechanic’s lien upon the mill and mill-site; that since the furnishing of said materials the defendant Lewis Wolfley has purchased the property in question, and is now the owner thereof; that the said Wolfley had actual as well as constructive notice of the lien of the plaintiff upon the said mill and mill-site prior to the time he purchased the ' same; that the plaintiff, on account of furnishing the materials on the aforesaid twenty-sixth day of February, is entitled to a lien upon the said mill and mill-site from and since the twenty-sixth day of February, 1901, for the said sum of $110.22; that the defendant Wolfley is a'subsequent pur[207]*207chaser of the said property with a knowledge of plaintiff’s lien, and his claims and rights in and to the said property are subordinate in time and in right to those of the plaintiff. Whereupon the court gave judgment for the plaintiff for $110.22, and ordered the foreclosure of the lien upon the property for that amount. Prom this judgment and the order denying a new trial Wolfley appeals, and assigns as error, among others: (1) That the court erred in not sustaining the demurrer of the defendant Wolfley; (2) that the court erred in denying defendant Wolfley’s motion to dismiss after plaintiff rested his case; (3) that the court erred in considering any evidence outside of that supplied by the lien in order to segregate the lienable from the non-lienable items therein contained; (4) that the court erred in permitting the introduction of or considering the lien as filed by the plaintiff.

In support of the first error assigned it is urged that the variance between the allegations of the complaint and the statements contained in the verified account, which was filed in compliance with the statute for the purpose of fixing and securing the lien, was fatal to the sufficiency of the complaint. The instances of variance cited, however, seem to us technical rather than material, and depend largely upon the construction given by the appellant to certain language used by the plaintiff. A careful examination of the complaint, and the copy of the notice of lien attached thereto and made a part thereof, satisfies us that there was no material variance between the allegations of the complaint and the statements contained in the verified account filed as claim and notice of lien, and that the complaint stated a good cause of action. The demurrer was .therefore properly overruled.

Upon the close of the plaintiff’s case the defendant Wolfley moved to dismiss the case on the ground of variance between the complaint and the evidence adduced in support thereof, and has assigned as error the court’s denial of such motion. It is urged in support of this assignment of error, first, that the complaint and the notice of lien alleged a verbal contract, whereas the testimony showed that the defendants had simply ordered the material without agreeing upon any specified price, and the plaintiff had charged the reasonable value thereof after completion; and, second, that the notice and verified account filed for record, on which the complaint was [208]*208based, called for $125.22 in the aggregate, and was composed of $15 for the first item and of $110.22 for the last, with the credit of $11.91 given on the first item, and that on the hearing of the ease the court 'excluded- the first item of $15, and the credit thereon of $11.91, and gave judgment for the value of the last repairs, costing $110.22, thus deciding that the plaintiff was not entitled to a lien for the first item, and that the blending of the item of $15, for which the lien was refused, with the items costing $110.22, for which the lien was allowed, destroyed the lien in toto.

An examination of the complaint and the verified account, and their comparison with the evidence introduced in the case, satisfies us that the former were substantially supported by the latter. The complaint alleges that the said castings were “furnished at the verbal request of said defendants, and consisted of a false bottom, a bottom, and three yokes for said mill, and were of the value of $125.22; that said castings were so furnished to be used, and were actually used, in the repairing of said mill, and said defendants verbally agreed with the plaintiff to pay therefor on demand the said sum of $125.22.” The notice states that the “said work and labor consisted of the furnishing for said mill of certain castings, to wit, a false bottom, a bottom, and three yokes, for the benefit of said Lockwood and Philes; . . . that the said Hughes furnished the said material at the specified price of $125.22 at the special instance and request of Lockwood and Philes, .and the said materials were worth the sum of $125.22.”

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Related

Lilley v. J. D. Halstead Lumber Co.
28 P.2d 616 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1934)
Harbridge v. Six Points Lumber Co.
152 P. 860 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1915)
Straub v. Lyman Land & Investment Co.
142 N.W. 734 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1913)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
71 P. 951, 8 Ariz. 203, 1903 Ariz. LEXIS 60, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wolfley-v-hughes-ariz-1903.