Hydraulic Press Brick Co. v. Lane

• Decision Date: 16 July 1918
• Docket Number: No. 19446.,19446.
• Parties: HYDRAULIC PRESS BRICK CO. v. LANE et al.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

205 S.W. 801

HYDRAULIC PRESS BRICK CO. v. LANE et al.

No. 19446.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

July 16, 1918.

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court; Wm. T. Jones, Judge.

Action by the Hydraulic Press Brick Company against Charles D. Lane and others. From an adverse judgment, defendant Bambrick Bros. Construction Company appeals. Transferred to St. Louis Court of Appeals.

The plaintiff brought this action under section 8235b, Session Acts of 1911, p. 314, which section, with others, is an amendment to the Mechanic's Lien Law, article 3, c. 74, of the Revised Statutes of 1909. The act of 1911, including sections 8235a and 8235b and other sections, provides for the adjudication and determination in one action of the rights of all parties, who have mechanics' liens and other claims against Teal estate. The plaintiff in its petition alleged that in March, 1914, it had a contract with the Monroe Construction Company, the then owner of six lots (describing them) on Carter avenue in the city of St. Louis, to furnish brick for a certain brick building to be erected on said lots; that it furnished brick to the value of $982.10. The Monroe Construction Company, and several other of the mechanics' lien claimants, including appellant, and several mortgagees, were made parties defendant. From a judgment in favor of the plaintiff as prayed in the petition, the defendant Bambrick Bros. Construction Company appealed; none other of the defendants appealed.

The allegations in the petition affecting the appellant are that the Bambrick Bros. Construction Company on the 9th day of August, 1914, filed in the circuit court of the city of St. Louis its lien against the property in the sum of $292.15, and thereafter filed suit to enforce the same before Frank P. Slater, justice of the peace, and that said suit was pending and undetermined. The petition prayed the court to establish and enforce the various and respective rights of the parties to the suit, and that in case of sale the court "equally distribute the proceeds thereof." It further prayed for an order of court to stay the prosecution of the suit heretofore commenced by the Bambrick Bros. Construction Company. The Bambrick Bros. Construction Company demurred to the petition, and the demurrer was overruled. It then filed its separate answer, in which it alleged it had its lien against the property described in the petition in the sum of $292.15, and had brought suit before Frank P. Slater, justice of the peace, and on December 22, 1914, said justice of the peace rendered judgment in favor of the Bambrick Bros. Construction Company and against the Monroe Construction Company and other persons, trustees, beneficiaries, and mortgagees, enforcing the lien of the construction company against the property secured in the plaintiff's petition herein. The judgment is set out in full in the answer, which alleged further that a certified copy of the same had been filed in the circuit court of the city of St. Louis and that the same was unsatisfied. While the suit was pending, the plaintiff filed a motion asking an order of the circuit court to restrain the Bambrick Bros. Construction Company, from proceeding to collect the judgment. This motion was sustained March 19, 1915, and the appellant was ordered to "take no further proceedings to collect the judgment by levying upon the property involved in this case and described in the petition."

In June, 1915, Herbert S. Gardner entered his appearance as defendant and by leave of the court filed his separate answer, and claimed that he had acquired title to one of the six lots described in the petition by foreclosure of a deed of trust, and denied all the allegations of the petition. Gardner's answer further alleged that section 8235b in Session Acts of 1911, p. 314, is unconstitutional, in that it violates section 53, art. 4, of the Constitution of Missouri. Gardner then, in addition to his answer, filed his cross-bill, alleging the same facts in having acquired title to the same lots, and prayed for a judgment determining the rights, titles, and interests of the several parties. The Bambrick Bros. Construction Company for reply filed a general denial to the answer of Herbert S. Gardner. On December 7, 1915, the court rendered judgment in accordance with the prayer of the petition ordering a judgment in favor of the plaintiff Hydraulic Press Brick Company and sustaining its lien and those of some other lien claimants, defendants, and ordered, if sufficient property be not found to satisfy the judgments rendered in favor of the several lien claimants, that the residue be levied out of the property described in the petition. The court further adjudged that the mechanics' liens and judgments thereon "herein adjudged" are prior to the liens created by the mortgages. The judgment then ordered that the...