Lacy v. Wilson

• Decision Date: 16 April 1872
• Citation: 24 Mich. 479
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court
• Parties: Richard Lacy v. John B. Wilson

24 Mich. 479

Richard Lacy v. John B. Wilson

Supreme Court of Michigan

April 16, 1872

Heard April 10, 1872

Error to Lapeer circuit.

Judgment reversed, with costs, and a new trial ordered.

Gaskill & Geer and George V. N. Lothrop, for plaintiff in error.

J. M Wattles and M. E. Crofoot, for defendant in error.

Cooley J. Christiancy, Ch. J. and Campbell, J., concurred. Graves J., did not sit in this case.

OPINION

Cooley, J.:

This case involves the right to certain lumber, which plaintiff claims to have purchased of John and George McLean. The defendant had previously, it appears, bought the same lumber of the McLeans, but his purchase was made on Sunday, and is not now relied upon. In his purchase, a board bill he had against the McLeans, amounting, as he claims, to sixty dollars, was to be applied in payment; but on their declining to adhere to the bargain, defendant testifies that they agreed he should retain the lumber--which was then in his possession--as security for his demand. The plaintiff, when he had bought, attempted to get the lumber, and he narrates the transaction between defendant and himself as follows: "After I had purchased the lumber I attempted to remove it, but Wilson would not allow me to remove it. Wilson said that he had purchased it of the McLean boys the day before. On the same day, at about noon, I saw Wilson, the defendant, in the city of Lapeer, and asked him how much the McLean boys owed him. He said they did not owe him one cent; said he had purchased the lumber in question from them on the day previous; that they owed him nothing now. I then took out my pocket-book, which contained one hundred and fifty dollars in greenbacks or legal tender notes, and told Wilson I would pay him what the McLean boys owed him for board, if he would tell me how much it was, and I was ready and willing to pay him whatever sum he might claim; but he said they owed him nothing, and that he would not receive any money from me on their account for their board bill. I was authorized by the McLean boys to pay him the board bill. They said they did not know the exact amount of their board bill, but it was about fifty dollars. This was before I offered to remove any of the lumber. I saw him again on the next day, and offered to pay him. I took out my pocket-book which contained the same one hundred and fifty dollars. This was at my place, and he said the McLeans did not owe him and he would not accept any money; said he relied on his purchase.

On the trial in the circuit court, the defendant's claim by purchase being abandoned, the questions litigated were first, whether the McLeans had given the defendant a lien on the lumber for their board bill, and if so, then whether this lien had become discharged by his own conduct or by the offer of plaintiff to pay. The defendant was sworn in the case, and does not appear to have contradicted the account given by the plaintiff of the interview between them, nor does the record disclose...