Bunts Engineering Co. v. Palmer

• Decision Date: 23 September 1937
• Citation: 169 Va. 206
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: THE ROBERT BUNTS ENGINEERING & EQUIPMENT COMPANY, ET AL. v. J. E. PALMER, ET ALS.

Page 206

169 Va. 206

THE ROBERT BUNTS ENGINEERING & EQUIPMENT COMPANY, ET AL. v. J. E. PALMER, ET ALS.

Supreme Court of Virginia, Staunton.

September 23, 1937.

Present, Campbell, C.J., and Holt, Hudgins, Gregory, Eggleston and Spratley, JJ.

1. STATUTES — Construction — Intention of Legislature to Be Ascertained. — In construing a statute the court should seek to discover the intention of the legislature as ascertained from the act itself when read in the light of other statutes relating to the same subject matter, and in the light of the reasons which led to the passage of the act and the evils which it was intended to cure.

2. LIENS — Laborer's Lien — Section 6438 of the Code of 1936 — To What Companies Applicable. — Section 6438 of the Code of 1936 gives to employees of certain companies a lien on franchises and property of the company. The legislature in placing railroad, canal and other transportation companies, and mining and manufacturing companies all in one section plainly had in mind corporations extensive in character, and at least those actually and chiefly so engaged.

3. LIENS — Laborer's Lien — Section 6438 of the Code of 1936 — Meaning of Word "Company" — Section Does Not Apply to Laborers Working for an Individual — Case at Bar. — In the instant case appellees sought to establish laborers' liens under section 6438 of the Code of 1936, upon the insolvency of an individual operator and lessee of a coal mine, trading as the Virginia Anthracite Coal Company. Counsel for the general creditors of the coal operator contended that section 6438 of the Code of 1936 does not give a laborer in a mine owned and operated by an individual a lien upon the owner's property, while counsel for the alleged lienors argued that the word "company," as employed in the statute, is an inclusive and not a restrictive term, and applies to individuals as well as to chartered companies.

Held: That the word "company" has no reference to an individual, as is clearly indicated by the descriptive phrase "whether * * * chartered" which follows.

4. LIENS — Laborer's Lien — Section 6438 of the Code of 1936 — Does Not Apply to Laborers Working for an Individual — Use of Word "Franchise." — Under the terms of section 6438 of the Code of 1936, giving to employees of certain companies a lien on franchises and property of the company, the lien the laborer is to acquire is a prior lien on the franchise, gross earnings and all the real and personal property of the company, and the four pillars upon which the lien must rest are franchise, earnings, real property and personal property. A franchise is an incorporeal hereditament applying in a technical sense to incorporated bodies, and the use of the word "franchise" therefore precludes any idea that the legislative intention was to include an individual employer within the scope of the statute.

5. LIENS — Laborer's Lien — Section 6438 of the Code of 1936 — Wisdom of Legislation Not a Judicial Question. — Whether or not the legislature acted wisely in restricting section 6438 of the Code of 1936 to corporations is not a question for the courts.

Appeal from a decree of the Court of Law and Chancery of the city of Roanoke, establishing liens of labor creditors under section 6438 of the Code of 1936. Hon. Beverley Berkeley, judge presiding.

The opinion states the case.

John S. Draper and Showalter, Parsons, Kuyk & Staples, for the appellants.

W. H. Colhoun and Julius Goodman, for the appellees.

CAMPBELL, C.J., delivered the opinion of the court.

The sole question involved in this controversy is the construction of section 6438 of the Code (as amended by Acts 1932, ch. 329). That section is as follows:

"All conductors, brakemen, engine drivers, firemen, captains, stewards, pilots, clerks, depot or office agents, storekeepers, mechanics, traveling representatives or laborers, and all persons furnishing railroad iron, engines, cars, fuel and all other supplies necessary to the operation of any railway, canal or other transportation company, and all clerks, mechanics, traveling representatives, foremen and laborers and superintendents to the extent of not more than twenty-five dollars per week, who furnish their services or labor to any mining or manufacturing company, whether such railway, canal or other transportation or mining or manufacturing company be chartered under or by the laws of this State, or be chartered elsewhere and be doing business within the limits of this State, shall have a prior lien on the franchises, gross earnings and on all the real and personal property of said company which is used in operating the same, to the extent of the moneys due them by said company for such wages or supplies, which lien shall be superior to, and have priority over, any amount due by such company for rents, or royalties; and no mortgage, deed of trust, sale, hypothecation or conveyance executed since the first day of May, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, shall defeat or take precedence over said lien; provided, however, that the lien secured by this section to parties furnishing supplies, shall be subordinate to that allowed to clerks, mechanics, foremen, superintendents, and laborers for services furnished as aforesaid; and provided, that if any person entitled to a lien as well under section sixty-four hundred and twenty-six as under this section, shall perfect his lien given by either section, he shall not be entitled to the benefits of the other; and provided, also, that no right to or remedy upon a lien which has already accrued to any person shall be extended, abridged or otherwise affected hereby."

The undisputed facts may be thus stated: W. R. J. Zimmerman, an individual trading as Virginia Anthracite Coal Company, was the lessee and operator of a coal mine at McCoy in the county of Montgomery. In addition to the lease, Zimmerman was the owner of a large amount of tangible property and also held in fee certain real estate situated in Montgomery county. During the progress of the mine operations Zimmerman became insolvent and upon bill filed for the purpose, a receiver was appointed by the Law and Equity Court of the city of Roanoke, to preserve the assets belonging to Zimmerman. Upon petition of Holman Willis, receiver, all creditors of Zimmerman were required to present their claims to H. M. Moomaw, special commissioner appointed for the purpose of ascertaining the assets and the creditors of Zimmerman. J. E. Palmer and other alleged labor lienors filed their claims before the commissioner, pursuant, as contended, to the provisions of section 6438 of the Code.

The specific contention of appellees, before the commissioner and before the court, was that section 6438 gives to laborers who...