Breault v. Archambault

• Decision Date: 14 May 1896
• Docket Number: Nos. 9890-9891 - (78-79).,s. 9890-9891 - (78-79).
• Citation: 64 Minn. 420
• Parties: EMERY H. BREAULT v. ELZOR ARCHAMBAULT and Others. M. J. LANE v. SAME.<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL>
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

64 Minn. 420

EMERY H. BREAULT v. ELZOR ARCHAMBAULT and Others.

M. J. LANE v. SAME.¹

Nos. 9890-9891 - (78-79).

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

May 14, 1896.

Appeal by certain defendants, except Lane & Raymo, in each case from orders of the district court for St. Louis county, Ensign, J., overruling a demurrer to the complaint. Affirmed.

Draper, Davis & Hollister, for appellants.

Teare & Middlecoff, for respondents.

COLLINS, J.²

These actions, brought to enforce log liens under the provisions of G. S. 1894, §§ 2451-2465, inclusive, against the same defendants, were argued and submitted together.

The complaint in the case in which Breault was plaintiff set forth three causes of action, — the first being on account of services rendered by plaintiff himself, as a cook in the logging camp; the second, for services rendered at the same time and place by another person, as assistant cook or "cookie," assigned to plaintiff; and the third, for services rendered by still another person, as a blacksmith, at the camp, and necessary for the performance of the work. such as shoeing the horses and repairing the sleds used in hauling the logs, and repairing the tools used by the men engaged in cutting the logs, also assigned to plaintiff.

The complaint in the Lane case alleged that plaintiff, at the request of Lane, and defendants Lane & Raymo, the contractors, furnished two teams of horses, and two teamsters to care for and drive the teams, at an agreed price per month for each team and teamster, for the purpose of skidding, hauling, and banking the logs.

The questions raised by a general demurrer to each complaint are whether, under the statute, a lien on the logs is given to a person who works as a cook, or as an assistant to the cook, in a lumbering camp, or a lien on the logs to the blacksmith who performs the work we have mentioned at such a camp, and also whether, under the same statute, a lien upon the logs is given to a person who, at the instance of those who contract to cut and bank the logs, furnishes a team and teamster, at a gross price per month for both, to skid, haul, and bank such logs, the person so furnishing not being personally engaged in the work himself.

That portion of the statute conferring the right of lien (section 2451) reads thus: "Any person who may do or perform any manual labor in cutting, banking, driving, rafting, cribbing, or towing any logs * * * shall have a lien thereon as against the owner thereof and all other persons * * * for the amount due for such services, and the same shall take precedence of all other claims thereon."

It is the position of defendants (appellants) in the Breault case that the services rendered by plaintiff and his assignors in cooking and in blacksmithing do not come within the provisions of the statute, because these services were not performed in cutting or banking the logs. The claim is for a strict construction of the statute, confining its application to those persons who actually and personally cut or bank, not extending its application to those whose services are as requisite and essential to properly accomplish the work to be done as are the services of the men who cut or bank the logs with their own hands. If this strict construction is to prevail, Breault's claim for liens cannot, in whole or in part.

That the statute in question was enacted to correct an abuse and to remedy an evil which had grown to enormous proportions is a matter of common history. Many owners of pine land habitually entered into logging contracts with reckless and irresponsible parties, the purpose and inevitable result being that the men who did the work were unable to collect their wages. The statute was passed to protect these men and the interests of labor, and a sound public policy require that it be liberally construed; that a construction be placed upon it which will protect all who, in furtherance of the common object, go into the logging camp, and there engage in the business of converting trees into logs and timber, in hauling the same to the banks of the streams, and there driving or rafting the product of their labor to market.

It is evident that a cook or a blacksmith is as essential to a logging crew as is the man who swings an ax or drives a team, and it is also evident that both perform manual labor....