Andrews v. Stegall, 6 Div. 667

• Decision Date: 30 August 1954
• Docket Number: 6 Div. 667
• Citation: 74 So.2d 472,261 Ala. 293
• Parties: J. Levert ANDREWS v. J. H. STEGALL and F. M. Savage.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 472

74 So.2d 472

261 Ala. 293

J. Levert ANDREWS v. J. H. STEGALL and F. M. Savage.

6 Div. 667.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

Aug. 30, 1954.

Smyer, Smyer, White & Reid, Birmingham, for appellant.

Ray & Giles, Birmingham, for appellees.

MERRILL, Justice.

Appeal from a judgment against appellant for $4,357.43 in a suit on a verbal contract for work and labor done and claiming a mechanic's and materialman's lien on lands of appellant described in the complaint. The appellant, Andrews, was a developer of subdivisions in Birmingham, three recent projects being Hillman Gardens, Huntsville Road and Avon Park. Appellee Stegall was a plumbing contractor and had installed the plumbing for appellant on various projects for the past 10 or 12 years. Stegall and appellee Savage had worked jointly on the Huntsville Road and the Avon Park projects. These two projects were developed by Lake Shore Development Company, Inc., which was composed of Andrews, his brother and his bookkeeper.

The claim for $6,954.04 was based upon an alleged agreement between the parties whereby appellant agreed to pay appellees $139.89 each for heating units to be placed in 46 houses in the Avon Park project. Appellant denied any agreement between himself and appellees, asserting that he was an officer of Lake Shore Development Company, a corporation, which was the contractor developing the land in question, and that such fact was well known to the appellees through prior dealings with appellant on behalf of this company.

Appellant further contended that there was no agreement between appellees and his principal as was claimed, but rather that the company had agreed to pay appellees a sum total of $650 per unit for the 46 houses for plumbing and heating and that the company had paid the amount due them.

Appellees contended that Andrews promised to pay them $650 per unit for the plumbing in the 46 houses and that nothing was said about the heating until two or three weeks later, after several houses had been 'roughed in' and that Stegall was told by both Andrews and his building superintendent to go ahead and install the heating and Andrews would pay the same amount per unit as had been paid on the Huntsville Road project, which it was agreed was $139.89.

After the jury verdict and judgment in favor of appellees for $4,357.43, appellant's motion for a new trial was overruled and the appeal was taken to this court.

All the authorities and propositions cited in appellant's brief are concerned with his contention that the alleged claim was against Lake Shore Development Company and not against him as an individual.

It was undisputed that Stegall was paid by checks signed by an officer of Hillman Gardens, Inc., when he worked on that project, and that the pay he and Savage received for their work on the Huntsville Road and the Avon projects was in the form of checks signed Lake Shore Development Company, Inc., by an officer and that none were signed by Andrews individually. Stegall also testified that at no time did Andrews ever tell him that he (Andrews) was acting for and on behalf of some particular corporation, and that when Andrews talked to him over the telephone about the plumbing work that Andrews 'told me that he was fixing to start a project.'

It was also...