Hanson v. News Publ'g Co.

• Decision Date: 10 December 1902
• Citation: 97 Me. 99,53 A. 990
• Parties: HANSON v. NEWS PUBLISHING CO. et al.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

53 A. 990

97 Me. 99

HANSON

v. NEWS PUBLISHING CO. et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Dec. 10, 1902.

(Official.)

Beport from superior court, Cumberland county.

Action by Charles A. Hanson against the News Publishing Company and another. Case reported. Judgment for defendant the P. H. & J. M. Brown Company.

Prom the reported evidence it appeared that the plaintiff, a carpenter and builder, claimed a lien upon the Falmouth Hotel building and lot of land on which it stands in Portland, owned by the defendant P. H. & J. M. Brown Company, to satisfy his demand against the defendant News Publishing Company, a corporation in said Portland, for labor by him performed and materials by him furnished for altering and repairing the store No. 208 Middle street, a part of the Falmouth Hotel building, by virtue of a contract made by said plaintiff with said News Publishing Company, the latter a tenant in possession of said store.

The News Publishing Company was lessee of the store under the Falmouth Hotel under a written lease from P. H. & J. M. Brown Company, the owners thereof, for a period of three years from the 1st day of July, 1901.

The lease was in the common form, with the usual covenants as to use and occupation, payment of rent as stipulated therein, and agreement to surrender the premises at the end of the term in good order, with a provision exonerating the lessor from any damage caused by overflow of water pipes, etc.

The lease contained no agreement as to repairs or alterations.

The premises included in the lease were an empty store comprising the ground floor and basement of a portion of the Falmouth Hotel building, which had been used for store purposes for years by various tenants, and at the time possession was taken by News Publishing Company contained no partitions, furniture, or fixtures, except some shelving.

When leased to the News Publishing Company, the store was in good repair, with a steel ceiling, and a comparatively new hardwood floor.

Having obtained possession of the premises, the defendant News Publishing Company made a verbal contract with plaintiff to divide up the store into offices by partitions made of wood and glass, with doors, and a cashier's office, with a glass front and paneled work; and, in addition thereto, the plaintiff made some other alterations and minor repairs, all under the direction of News Publishing Company.

The claim for the lien was recorded September 10, 1901.

Argued before WISWELL, C. J., and STROUT, SAVAGE, POWERS, and SPEAR, JJ.

Wilford G. Chapman, for plaintiff.

Harry R. Virgin and Franklin C. Payson, for owners of building.

STBOUT, J. Plaintiff claims a lien upon the Falmouth Hotel building for labor and materials used in a store in that building leased to the Publishing Company, under an employment by that company, upon the ground that the owners of the building consented thereto. The lease was in the usual form, and contained no provision in regard to alterations or repairs.

The P. H. & J. M. Brown Company leased to the News Publishing Company for three years "the store numbered two hundred and eight" under the Falmouth Hotel. The News Publishing Company, as such lessee, for its own convenience, put certain partitions into the store, nailed to the floor and screwed to the walls, but not nailed or otherwise fastened to the ceiling overhead. A runner was put down, and lightly nailed to the floor, and the partitions studded from that. When leased, the store was "one large open room," with shelving. The News Publishing Company took out this shelving. The partitions were so put up that they could be removed without injury to the building, and were in fact removed by the lessees. They were not necessary or useful to the store as a store, for which it was constructed, and was...