Arnold v. American Pipe & Supply Co., 3469
| Decision Date | 09 May 1966 |
| Docket Number | No. 3469,3469 |
| Parties | Eugene F. ARNOLD, doing business as Arnold Drilling Company, Appellant (Plaintiff below), v. AMERICAN PIPE & SUPPLY CO., a partnership, Rocky Mountain Rental Tool, Inc., a corporation, Appellees (Defendants below), Butane Power and Equipment Company, a corporation (Defendant below). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Harold L. Mai, Cheyenne, for appellant.
B. J. Baker of Brown, Healy, Drew, Apostolos & Barton, Casper, for American Pipe & Supply Co.
J. F. Mahoney, Casper, for Rocky Mountain Rental Tool, Inc.
Before PARKER, C. J., and HARNSBERGER, GRAY, and McINTYRE, JJ.
Plaintiff, the owner of an oil and gas leashold estate, filed a complaint alleging that defentants claimed liens on the land covered by the lease, which liens were recorded and unsatisfied, but void, and he prayed his title in the premises be quieted. Defendants answered separately and counterclaimed, each asking the foreclosure of its respective lien. The cause was tried without a jury and the court found against plaintiff on the complaint and in favor of appellees on the counterclaims, awarding judgment of foreclosure on each of the liens, from which judgment plaintiff appeals.
The axial facts are undisputed, that the plaintiff-owner of the oil and gas leasehold estate paid the drilling contractor the full contract price of the well following its completion and appellees who had furnished materials for the well thereafter within the statutory time limit each filed a notice and claim of lien upon which the foreclosure was sought.
The sole question, one of law, is stated by appellant: 'Whether the leasehold estate and well of owner may be subject to materialmen's liens for amounts owing from the principal contractor to materialmen when owner paid the principal contractor in full, pursuant to the drilling contract, after the well was completed * * * prior to receiving notice from materialmen that they had not been paid by the principal contractor.'
Plaintiff concedes that the Wyoming mechanics' lien statutes confer on materialmen and laborers a direct, absolute lien, irrespective of the right of the principal contractor to a lien and to the state and condition of the account of the owner and principal contractor. However, he predicates his appeal on the contention that in contrast thereto Wyoming's mineral-lien laws are of a subrogation type, and he insists that a person to whom a general contractor owes a debt on an oil well...
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Permian Corp. v. Armco Steel Corp.
...request of the contractor, notwithstanding the fact that the owner had previously paid the contractor in full. Arnold v. American Pipe & Supply Co., 413 P.2d 874 (Wyo.1966). These and many allied decisions support the rule that the statutorily created mechanic's lien is akin to an 'equitabl......
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Adobe Oil & Gas Corp. v. Getter Trucking, Inc.
...the contractor for the claimed services and the contractor had not paid the subcontractor as was the case in Arnold v. American Pipe & Supply Co., Wyo., 413 P.2d 874 (1966). As applied to the case at bar, the drilling contractor would have no lien against the leasehold for transportation an......
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Butane Power & Equipment Co. v. Arnold
...failure to comply with the pretrial order. Affirmed. 1 The rights of the other two defendants were determined by Arnold v. American Pipe & Supply Co., Wyo., 413 P.2d 874. ...