Harbor View Marine Corp. v. Braudy

Citation189 F.2d 481
Decision Date14 May 1951
Docket NumberNo. 4551.,4551.
PartiesHARBOR VIEW MARINE CORP. v. BRAUDY. In re PEARL FISHERIES, Inc.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (1st Circuit)

Jack M. Rosenberg, New Bedford, Mass. (Solomon Rosenberg, New Bedford, Mass., with him on the brief), for appellant.

Louis Stone, New Bedford, Mass., for appellee.

Before MAGRUDER, Chief Judge, and WOODBURY and HARTIGAN, Circuit Judges.

MAGRUDER, Chief Judge.

In this bankruptcy appeal only a narrow point is presented, as to the extent of a warehouseman's lien under the applicable Massachusetts statute.

Harbor View Marine Corporation, appellant herein, is a Massachusetts corporation which conducts a public warehouse and fish-freezing plant in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Pearl Fisheries, Inc., the bankrupt, had from time to time during the two and one-half years prior to bankruptcy delivered to appellant various lots of fish owned by the bankrupt, for freezing and storage. For each lot as delivered, appellant issued a non-negotiable warehouse receipt to the bankrupt. At the time of the adjudication there remained on deposit in appellant's warehouse eleven of such lots of fish. The bankrupt owed the warehouseman (1) the sum of $258.11, on account of unpaid charges for processing and storage of those eleven lots of fish remaining in the warehouse, and (2) the additional sum of $1,126.84, as unpaid charges for processing and storage of other lots of the bankrupt's fish previously stored in appellant's warehouse but withdrawn therefrom by the bankrupt prior to bankruptcy. Appellant claimed a general lien on the eleven lots of fish as security for the total amount due on the general account, amounting to $1,384.95. The trustee in bankruptcy maintained that the lien was a specific one, limited in amount to $258.11, the unpaid charges on the lots of fish remaining in the warehouse.

On separate petitions by the warehouseman and by the trustee for determination of the amount of the lien, the referee in bankruptcy determined that the lien was a specific one only, and entered an order finding "the true amount of the lien to be $258.11." This was affirmed by order of the district court entered upon consideration of the warehouseman's petition for review, and the present appeal followed.

The question at issue must be determined by reference to Mass.G.L., C. 105, §§ 32-35, which embody, with no substantial change, the provisions of §§ 27-30 of the Uniform Warehouse Receipts Act. Though this enactment has been on the books in Massachusetts since 1907, Acts and Resolves of Mass.1907, C. 582, it is rather surprising that, so far as we have been able to discover, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts has never had occasion to determine whether the warehouseman's statutory lien is general or specific. Following are the sections of the law bearing on the present case:

C. 105, § 32 § 27 of the Uniform Act Warehouseman's Lien, Scope of. "Subject to section thirty-four, a warehouseman shall have a lien on goods deposited or on the proceeds thereof in his hands, for all lawful charges for their storage and preservation; also for all lawful claims for money advanced, interest, insurance, transportation, labor, weighing, coopering and other charges and expenses in relation thereto; also for all reasonable charges and expenses for notice, and advertisements of sale, and for sale thereof where default has been made in satisfying his lien."

§ 33 § 28 of the Uniform Act Application of Lien. — "Subject to the provisions of the following section, such a lien may be enforced —

"(a) Against all goods, whenever deposited, belonging to the person who is liable as debtor for the claims to secure which the lien is asserted; and

"(b) Against all goods belonging to others which have been deposited at any time by the person who is liable as debtor for the claims to secure which the lien is asserted, if such person had been so intrusted with the possession of the goods that a pledge of the same by him at the time of the deposit to one who took the goods in good faith for value would have been valid. . . ."

§ 34 § 29 of the Uniform Act Loss of Lien. — "A warehouseman loses his lien —

"(a) By surrendering possession; or

"(b) By refusing to deliver the goods when a demand is made with which he is bound to comply under this chapter."

§ 35 § 30 of the Uniform Act Additional Charges for Which Lien Is Claimed. "If a negotiable receipt is issued for goods, the warehouseman shall have no lien thereon, except for charges for storage and preservation of those goods subsequent to the date of the receipt, unless the receipt expressly enumerates other charges for which a lien is claimed. In such case there shall be a lien for the charges enumerated, so far as they are within the terms of section thirty-two although the amount of the charges so enumerated is not stated in the receipt."

At the common law, a warehouseman had a specific lien for storage charges, enforceable only against the goods to which the charges related. See Lummus on Liens § 72 (1904). This was oddly in contrast with the common law treatment of wharfingers, who had a general lien, enforceable against any of the owner's goods remaining on deposit, as security for unpaid storage charges accumulated on general account. Lummus on Liens § 80 (1904); see discussion in Stallman v. Kimberly, 1889, 53 Hun 531, 6 N.Y.S. 706, affirmed 1890, 121 N.Y. 393, 24 N.E. 939. In a few states, prior to the drafting of the Uniform Warehouse Receipts Act, the warehouseman's lien had by statute been extended to cover "all legal demands for storage and said above described expenses paid which he may have against the owner of said goods". N.Y. Laws 1885, C. 526, § 1; Mich. Comp. Laws 1897, § 5031. These statutes were construed as giving to warehousemen a general lien like that of the wharfinger. Stallman v. Kimberly, supra; Kaufman v. Leonard, 1905, 139 Mich. 104, 102 N.W. 632. This result was made even clearer in N.Y. Laws 1897, C. 418, § 73. Hence, at the time the Uniform Warehouse Receipts Act was drafted, it was well settled that a warehouseman had at least a specific lien, and in some states there were statutes enlarging the lien into a general one. The various statutes and decisions are collected in Mohun, Compilation of Warehouse Laws (1904).

With this background of history, it seems fairly clear to us that the Uniform Warehouse Receipts Act was intended to follow the then existing New York statutory precedent, and to vest in the warehouseman a general lien rather than a specific one. The body of § 27 of the Uniform Act (Mass. § 32, quoted supra), if read in isolation, might seem to grant the warehouseman only a specific lien on goods on deposit for the warehouseman's charges and expenditures in relation thereto, going beyond the common law merely by enlarging the types of charges with respect to which the specific lien was applicable. See Commissioners' Note to § 27 of the Uniform Act; Mohun, The Effect of the Uniform Warehouse Receipts Act, 13 Col.L. Rev. 202, 208 (1913). But when § 27 of the Uniform Act is read in conjunction with § 28 thereof, Mass. § 32 and § 33, the scheme in the draftsman's mind is more readily apparent.

Section 27 of the Uniform Act, Mass. § 32, is primarily designed to define the types of charges to be embraced within the warehouseman's lien. This is indicated by the caption of § 27 of the Uniform Act: "What claims are included in the warehouseman's lien".1 Under the caption "Against What Property the Lien May be Enforced", § 28 of the Uniform Act, Mass. § 33, provided that the warehouseman's lien might be enforced "(a) Against all goods, whenever deposited, belonging to the person who is liable as debtor for the claims in regard to which the lien is asserted". Thus, reading the two sections together, if the claims in regard to which the lien is asserted are the types of charges defined in § 27, Mass. § 32, the lien therefor is, by force of § 28(a), Mass. § 33(a), a general one good against "all goods, whenever deposited, belonging to the person who is liable as debtor" for such charges. If this is not the effect of the latter section, it is difficult to see what it adds to the statute. Further, as provided in § 28(b) of the Uniform Act, Mass. § 33(b), the lien also is enforceable against "all goods belonging to others which have been deposited at any time by the person who is liable as debtor for the claims in regard to which the lien is asserted if such person had been so entrusted with the possession of the goods that a pledge of the same by him at the time of the deposit to one who took the goods in good faith for value would have been valid."

The Uniform Warehouse Receipts Act was drafted by Professor Williston. See 4 Williston on Contracts, § 1045, n. 8 (Rev. ed. 1936). In his treatise, Professor Williston states (op. cit. § 1058, n. 2) that § 28 of the Uniform Act, Mass. § 33, extends the common law "by giving a general rather than a specific lien"; and for statutory precedent he refers to the earlier New York statute, citing Stallman v. Kimberly, 1890, 121 N.Y. 393, 24 N.E. 939.

The foregoing interpretation of the Uniform Act was specifically adopted by decision of the court in San Angelo Wine & Spirits Corp. v. South End Warehouse Co., 1936, 19 Cal.App.2d Supp. 749, 61 P.2d 1235. In several other jurisdictions there are dicta to the same effect. In re Taub, 2 Cir., 1925, 7 F.2d 447, 451; Klock Produce Co. v. Diamond Ice & Storage Co., 1916, 90 Wash. 67, 155 P. 414; Metropolitan Commercial Corp. v. Larkin Co., Inc., 1936, 168 Misc. 31, 4 N.Y.S.2d 326, affirmed Per Curiam, 4th Dept. 1939, 257 App.Div. 612, 15 N.Y.S.2d 18. See also Wilson Distilling Co., Inc. v. Foust Distilling Co., D. C.M.D.Pa.1943, 51 F.Supp. 744; State Bank of Wilbur v. Almira Farmers' Warehouse Co., 1923, 123 Wash. 354, 212 P. 543; Id., 1924, 131 Wash. 623, 230 P. 817. There is a dearth of...

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