Woollen v. Wishmier

70 Ind. 108
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 15, 1880
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 70 Ind. 108 (Woollen v. Wishmier) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Woollen v. Wishmier, 70 Ind. 108 (Ind. 1880).

Opinion

Biddle, C. J.

— Christian F. Wishmier brought this complaint against August Drascher and George V. Thayer, to enforce a mechanic’s lien against certain real estate described, for materials furnished, and work done in building certain hog-pens upon said real estate, appurte[110]*110nant'to a distillery then owned by Drasclier and Thayer. William W. Woollen and Willis S. Webb, who had subsequently purchased the real estate’ at sheriffs sale, upon a decree in their favor against Drascher and Thayer, and who claimed title thereto, were made defendants in the complaint. ' There were also other defendants in the court below, but, as none have appealed to this court except .Woollen and Webb, we take no further notice of those who are not before us.

The complaint was originally in four paragraphs, but the case was dismissed as to the second and third paragraphs. A separate demurrer, for want of facts, was overruled to the first and fourth paragraphs of complaint, and exception reserved. Several paragraphs of answer were filed by Woollen and Webb, to which replies were filed, and upon which various questions by demurrer were raised, but, as argument upon these is waived in the brief of appellants, we do not state them.

Trial by jury, general verdict for appellee, with a special finding' upon various answers to interrogatories propounded to the jury. Motion for judgment on the special finding, notwithstanding the general verdict, overruled ; motion for a now trial overruled, and judgment for the amount found due, and, in default of payment, for a sale of the property, —to all of which exceptions were reserved.

The pleadings are complicated, but we notice only such questions as arise between Woollen and Webb, as appellants, and Wishmier, as appellee, and are discussed in their briefs.

1. The appellants moved to strike out of the first paragraph of the complaint all that part, designating it, which averred the filing of -the mechanic’s lien by the appellee. The court overruled this motion. The appellants think this is error: but we think not. We have often held that overruling such a motion presents no available error to [111]*111this court. The motion did not raise the question of the sufficiency of the complaint, as the appellants seem to think. The appellee sought no remedy against the appellants; it was not necessary, therefore, that the complaint should show a cause of action against them. They were made defendants upon the supposed ground that they had some interest in the property; so that, if they had, they could plead it in their defence. The contest between the appellants and the appellee had not yet appeared in the record.

2. A similar motion was made to the fourth paragraph of the complaint, and a similar ruling had thereon. As these two paragraphs are the same in principle, as between the appellants and the appellee, the same ruling upon both was proper.

3. As it was not pretended that the facts stated in either paragraph of the complaint constituted a cause of action against the appellants, except to require them to answer if they had any claim to the property in controversy, and as the appellee sought no relief against them, their demurrer to the complaint presented no question -upon the merits of their claim to the property, available upon appeal; for they could not demur to the complaint, ' because it stated no sufficient cause of action against Drascher and Thayer. Besides, if they could, the demurrer was properly overruled; for it is very clear that the complaint states a sufficient cause of action against them for the material furnished and the work done, even though they have not sufficiently averred their right to hold a mechanic’s lien upon' the property. It is also clear that the complaint is sufficient to require the appellants to answer if they have any claim to the property against which the lien is sought.

4. Overruling the motion for judgment in favor of the appellants on the special finding, notwithstanding the [112]*112general verdict in favor of the appellee. This is insisted upon by the appellants as error. They base their argument upon the following questions and answers:

“8. Were not the five hog-pens in use about the first of May, A. D. 1872 ?
“ Answer. Yes.
“ 5. Did not Wishmier, about the last of April or the first of May, A. D. 1872, present to Drascher & Thayer his bill for labor and materials used in the construction of the five hog-pens, and demand a settlement for said labor and materials?
“Answer. Yes.
“ 7. If any work was done, or materials ' furnished for the hog-pens, by Wishmier, between about the last of April or the first of May, A. D. 1872, and about the middle of August, A. D. 1872, state what work was done, and what materials furnished, and what workmen did the work ?
“Answer. Hog-chute built, and slats nailpd on; lumber therefor furnished by Wishmier ; Drascher & Thayer’’s hired men did the work.
“ 15. Was not the hog-chute built jointly by Drascher & Thayer and Wishmier, each party furnishing part of the materials ?
“ Answer. Yes.”

We can not perceive any inconsistency between the special finding and the general verdict. They seem to us to be in harmony — each consistent with the other. The argument of the appellants is, that, as the special finding shows that the appellee filed the notice of his intention to hold a lien on the property with the recorder on the 1st day of October, 1872, the hog-pens were in use about the first of May, 1872; that Wishmier presented his claim for the materials and work to Drascher & Thayer, and for a settlement, about the first of May, 1872; that [113]*113there were no materials furnished for and no work done upon the hog-pens from the first of May, 1872, until the middle of August, 1872, except building the hog-chute, nailing the slats on — the lumber being furnished by Wishmier, and the work done by Drascher & Thayer’s hired men; that the hog-chute was built jointly by Drascher & Thayer and Wishmier — each party furnishing a part of the materials; that, therefore, the appellant did not file the notice of his lien within sixty days after the completion of the hog-pens, as required by the statute. They contend that the hog-chute was built jointly by Drascher & Thayer and the appellee, and, being so built, the appellee could not take his lien for it, or any part of it, upon the property. In shoi’t, the appellants insist that the special finding shows that the hog-pens were completed on the 1st of May, 1872, and that the notice of the lien was not filed until the 1st of October, 1872, and therefore not within sixty days of the completion of the work.

We do not see the argument in that light: Because the hog-chute was built jointly by Drascher & Thayer and the appellee, it does not follow that the appellee is not entitled to his lien on the property for his share of the materials furnished and the labor by him performed, nor that the hog-pens were completed ou the 1st of May, 1872. Besides, the share that Drascher & Thayer had in building the hog-chute might have been compensated in some way by the appellee, and thus have left him with his right to a lien for the entire material furnished and work done in building the hog-chute.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Gaudie v. Northern Lumber Co.
74 P. 1009 (Washington Supreme Court, 1904)
Davis v. Turner
1 Ohio Law Rep. 690 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1903)
Corbey v. Rogers
52 N.E. 748 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1899)
Cleghorn v. Sayre
22 Colo. 400 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1896)
A., T. S. F. Rld. Co. v. Johnson
1895 OK 58 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1895)
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad v. Johnson
3 Okla. 41 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1895)
Standard Life & Accident Insurance v. Martin
33 N.E. 105 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1893)
Jordan v. Vehon
44 Ill. App. 177 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1892)
Pennsylvania Co. v. Brush
28 N.E. 615 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1891)
Hull v. Louth
10 N.E. 270 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1887)
Fahlor v. State
9 N.E. 297 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1886)
Wagoner v. Wilson
8 N.E. 925 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1886)
Redelsheimer v. Miller
8 N.E. 447 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1886)
Sanders v. Weelburg
7 N.E. 573 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1886)
Marshall v. State ex rel. Shryer
6 N.E. 142 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1886)
Lowery v. Carver
4 N.E. 52 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1886)
Baltimore & Ohio & Chicago Railroad v. Rowan
3 N.E. 627 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1885)
Peck v. Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railway Co.
101 Ind. 366 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1885)
Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad v. Hedges
7 N.E. 801 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1885)
Fellenzer v. VanValzah
95 Ind. 128 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1884)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
70 Ind. 108, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woollen-v-wishmier-ind-1880.