Safe-Deposit & Trust Co. of Pittsburgh v. Columbia Iron & Steel Co.
| Decision Date | 15 July 1896 |
| Docket Number | 5 |
| Citation | 176 Pa. 536,35 A. 229 |
| Parties | The Safe Deposit & Trust Company of Pittsburg (formerly the Safe Deposit Company of Pittsburg), a Corporation under the Laws of the State of Pennsylvania, Trustee, Appellant, v. The Columbia Iron & Steel Company, also a Corporation |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Argued May 11, 1896
Appeal, No. 5, Jan. T., 1896, by plaintiff, from order of C.P. Fayette Co., March Term, 1894, No. 27, overruling exception to auditor's report. Reversed.
Exceptions to auditor's report.
The auditor D. M. Hertzog, Esq., reported:
1. That in the spring of 1886, The Columbia Iron & Steel Company, a corporation under the laws of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, began to make preparations to erect a steel plant on a tract of land containing eleven acres and seventy-two perches, situate partly in the borough of Uniontown and partly in North Union township, Fayette county Pa.
2. That in pursuance of said preparations, the said company entered into a contract in writing with John Huckestein and Henry Huckestein, copartners as Huckestein & Co., of Allegheny City, Pa., by which the said Huckestein & Co. agreed "as fast as required by E. M. Butz, architect, to well and sufficiently erect and finish all the excavation concrete, stone and brick work required in the foundation for the buildings and machinery for the new steel plant and rolling mills, . . . all agreeably to such drawings as may be hereafter furnished and the specifications hereto annexed within the time aforesaid."
3. That said contract was signed on May 3, 1886, and work begun on the said tract of land by said Huckestein & Co., in pursuance of said contract, on June 29, 1886, and finished December 13, 1886.
4. That the building for which said excavations were to be made and foundations erected consisted of two buildings, to wit: (a) The main or mill building; (b) the boiler house.
5. (a) That the main building was large, being six hundred and thirty-one feet in its entire length, and of irregular shape, varying in width from about sixty-four feet to about one hundred and ten feet.
6. That at the upper end of this building were erected two cupolas, then passing down through the building in order there were the following structures requiring excavations and foundations: Two converters and two hydraulic cranes, casting pit, four heating furnaces and two hydraulic cranes, soaking pit, large rolling mill and two hydraulic cranes, a large pair of shears and two hydraulic cranes, four heating furnaces and hydraulic machinery for operating mills, one large and one small rolling mill, hot saw for sawing metal. Adjacent to the location of the last mentioned mills, extending at right angles from the side of the main building, are two rooms in which are erected the large engines for operating the machinery. All these apartments including the engine rooms are under one roof. The roof and sides were of corrugated iron, and the framework of the superstructure of the entire buildings, as originally constructed, was of iron. To support this superstructure, a series of stone or part stone and part brick piers were built. In addition to these, were minor matters also requiring more or less excavating or building of foundations.
7. (b) The boiler house was an oblong building, located parallel with the center of the main building and at a distance of about sixty feet from the eastern side of the principal portion of the main building. This building is three hundred and fifteen feet long by thirty-six feet wide in the main part with a small L extension at or near the upper end. In the upper end of this building were two engines and fans for furnishing air for converters and cupolas and also hydraulic machinery. In the other part of the building a large number of boilers are located for generating the steam used in the engines in the main building.
8. The main building and boiler house are connected by two steam pipes, one at the lower end and the other near the center of the boiler house, and one cold air pipe near the upper end of boiler house, all overhead. There is also a water pipe underground from the hydraulic machinery in the upper end of boiler house to the machinery in the main building, operated by hydraulic power; also an underground connection by a pipe originally laid for carrying natural gas.
9. The machinery and apparatus in the boiler house are essential to the operation of the machinery in the main building, and one department would be inoperative and useless for the purpose for which it was built without the other.
10. An addition to the eastern side of the main building was erected for another furnace and soaking pit in 1887, so as to occupy part of the space between that building and the boiler house. There was also a wooden extension added to lower end of the main building, on neither of which additions was any work done by Huckestein & Co.
The remainder of the eleven acres and seventy-two perches, with the exception of a small portion at the lower end, is occupied by the company, in roadways, railroad tracks, storage yards for raw and finished material, a large reservoir for storing water for use in boilers and hydraulic machinery, office building, scales, storage buildings and the like, so that the whole of the building and appurtenances form together a "steel plant."
11. It was for excavating and building foundations for the various departments in the main and boiler buildings above described that the contract with Huckestein & Co. was entered into as aforesaid.
12. The consideration to be paid by the C.I. & S. Co. for this work was to be by the cubic yard for excavating; stonework per perch, and brickwork by the thousand brick.
"The contractor at his own proper cost and expense is to provide all manner of materials and labor, scaffolding implements, moulds, freight and cartage of every description, for the due performance of the several erections."
13. The Huckesteins completed their contract, and the company failed to pay them in full, and on June 9, 1887, at No. 979 of mechanics' liens, they entered a mechanic's lien against the "buildings comprising the plant and buildings of an iron and steel rolling mill," etc. steel rolling mill," etc.
14. On this mechanic's lien they issued a scire facias to No. 301, March term, 1892, in the court of common pleas of Fayette county, and on March 30, 1892, took judgment thereon by agreement for $12,000, with interest from December 1, 1891, payable annually; and on March 30, 1892, Huckestein & Co. assigned this judgment to Stolzenbach and Pfiel.
15. That on April 29, 1889, a mortgage was given by the Columbia Iron & Steel Company to The Safe Deposit & Trust Company, of Pittsburg, also a corporation under the laws of Pennsylvania, in the sum of $150,000, in trust, to secure certain bonds issued by said steel company. This mortgage was duly executed and delivered to said trust company, and recorded in Fayette county on the 30th day of April, 1889, in mortgage book No. 13, page 276; that a sci. fa. was issued on this mortgage on November 7, 1893, to No. 293, December term, 1893, on which judgment was recovered in the sum of $169,804.21, with interest from December 1, 1893; that a lev. fa. was issued on this judgment to No. 27 March term, 1894, on which the entire plant aforesaid of the steel company was sold for $21,000, and the said The Safe Deposit & Trust Company of Pittsburg became the purchaser. Notice was given to the sheriff, by the purchaser, to pay into court $12,500 of the purchase money, and that is the sum now for distribution by the auditor.
The only contestants for this fund are the assignees of the Huckestein lien and The Safe Deposit & Trust Company of Pittsburg, the latter claiming upon the mortgage aforesaid and that the lien upon which Stolzenbach and Pfiel claim is defective and invalid for two reasons, to wit: (a) That it was not entered within six months from the completion of the contract; (b) That the description of the building is insufficient.
Upon these questions the auditor finds the following facts:
The sixth paragraph of the lien as filed is as follows:
Mr. John Huckestein testifies that the material was furnished and work all done under one contract which was in writing.
The bill of particulars is headed, "For work done and materials furnished in the excavation, grading, concrete work and brick and stone masonry . . . said work and materials having been done and furnished under an agreement with the said Columbia Iron & Steel Company, a copy of which said agreement is hereto attached."
The only copy of agreement attached to this bill is the contract originally made with Huckestein & Co.
The items of the bill of particulars appear in groups; (1) those pertaining to excavating; (2) concrete work; (3) brick and stone foundations; (4) group of items for extra work on "extra large stone blocks" and other matters; (5) brickwork.
All these groups of items appear without dates. Then follows a list of items beginning September 23, and extending to December 13, inclusive, and headed "Sunday time, work and materials."
It is argued by counsel for The Safe Deposit & Trust Co. that this latter group of items must be for extra work and material, otherwise they would not have been so particularly specified, and further for the reason that they are not mentioned in the contract.
The evidence offered as to when the...
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