Getchell v. Moran

• Decision Date: 03 May 1878
• Citation: 124 Mass. 404
• Parties: Leonard A. Getchell v. James P. Moran
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

124 Mass. 404

Leonard A. Getchell v. James P. Moran

Supreme Court of Massachusetts

May 3, 1878

[Syllabus Material]

Suffolk. Petition under the Gen. Sts. c. 150, to enforce a mechanic's lien for labor performed and furnished upon a house in Lexington Street, in that part of Boston formerly Charlestown. At the trial in the Superior Court, before Allen J., without a jury, the petitioner put in evidence the following copy of a statement, signed and sworn to by him, as recorded in the registry of deeds for Suffolk County, under the St. of 1874, c. 321, § 4, on August 29, 1874:

"I Leonard A. Getchell, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on oath do certify that I have performed and caused to be performed labor as a carpenter on a certain house situated in the Charlestown District of sad Boston, said house being a double wooden house and situated on a lot of land, [describing it by metes and bounds,] being the premises conveyed to John P. Moran by Sampson Warren, by deed dated May 9, 1874, and recorded with Suffolk Deeds, book 1211, page 181; that the said lot and building are owned, or believed by me to be owned, by John P. Moran, of Chelsea, in said county. And I further certify that I have and claim a lien upon said house and the appurtenances thereto belonging and the lot of land on which said house stands, and the interest of the owner or owners thereof, to secure the amount due me for labor performed, with interest, and all costs and expenses of enforcing said lien. And I further certify that said labor was performed in pursuance of a contract made by me with one J. H. Staples, of said Chelsea, and that said Staples was duly authorized to make said contract by said J. P. Moran; and I further certify that my contract with said Staples was to labor and furnish labor by the day on said house, and to receive therefor a just and reasonable sum per day; and in accordance therewith I performed and caused to be performed labor amounting to $ 102, and there is due therefor the sum of $ 72.

"I further certify that I ceased to labor and cause labor to be performed on said house on the first day of August, A. D. 1874, and that the account hereto annexed is a just and true account, and that the credit therein given is the only credit." Annexed to this was an account showing the number of days' work and certain credits.

The original statement was also in evidence, and differed from the above copy only in this particular, that a line was drawn across the three last letters of the name "John." The petitioner's attorney, who drew the statement, testified that he had no recollection when the lines were so drawn across that name, but thought it was before record. The judge found that it was done before the statement was recorded. The petitioner testified that he knew the respondent for several years before filing his petition, and that his name was James P. Moran.

It was also in evidence for the petitioner, that the labor for which he claimed to have a lien was performed by himself and men in his employ upon a double wooden house, upon land of the respondent; that the houses were new houses, in process of erection by one Staples, under a written contract entered into by Staples and the respondent, which Staples refused to fulfil; that the houses were divided one from the other by a twelveinch brick partition wall, which extended from the foundation to a distance of two feet above the roof of each house, both houses being in process of erection at the same time, and the boarding and clapboarding forming a continuous front and rear of the entire building; that the petitioner and his men performed labor on both houses, and, when they commenced to labor, the partition wall was built and the houses boarded in; and that they ceased to labor on August 1, 1874. The judge found that both houses were one building.

The petitioner also testified that he performed and furnished the labor under an agreement with Staples, by which the petitioner was to take his men and go to work upon the houses by the day.

The respondent asked the judge to rule as follows:

"1. This petition cannot be maintained, because the petitioner misstated the name of the owner of the land in the statement filed by him in the registry of deeds.

"2. This petition cannot be maintained, because it does not appear from the statement filed in the registry of deeds, or from this petition, that the labor was performed in the erection, alteration or repair of the houses or building; and the contract alleged to have been made between Staples and the petitioner is too indefinite, and no lien exists therefor.

"3. The statement filed in the registry of deeds is not such a statement, for labor performed and furnished, as is required by law to be filed, but is only a statement claiming a lien for labor performed.

"4. The petition cannot be...