The Willys-Overland Company v. Evans

• Decision Date: 12 April 1919
• Docket Number: 22,055
• Citation: 104 Kan. 632,180 P. 235
• Parties: THE WILLYS-OVERLAND COMPANY, Appellant, v. A. R. EVANS, doing business as the EVANS AUTO MACHINE WORKS, Appellee
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

180 P. 235

104 Kan. 632

THE WILLYS-OVERLAND COMPANY, Appellant, v. A. R. EVANS, doing business as the EVANS AUTO MACHINE WORKS, Appellee

No. 22,055

Supreme Court of Kansas

April 12, 1919

Decided January, 1919.

Appeal from Leavenworth district court; JAMES H. WENDORFF, judge.

Judgment affirmed.

SYLLABUS

SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.

1. AUTOMOBILE--Lien of Mechanic for Repairs--Superior to Prior Chattel Mortgage. An automobile purchased in Kansas City Mo., on which a chattel mortgage duly recorded in Jackson county, Missouri, was in force, was left at a Kansas garage for repairs by another than the original purchaser. Held, that while the lien of the chattel mortgage was good, the garage man who repaired the car was, under the Kansas lien statute, sections 6092 to 6094 of the General Statutes of 1915, as amended by chapter 232 of the Laws of 1917, entitled to a lien thereon, and entitled to retain possession thereof until the amount was paid.

2. SAME--Failure of Mechanic to Record Claim. The failure of the garage man to record a claim for lien did not impair his right to retain possession, but only precluded him from foreclosing his lien as a chattel mortgage.

W. W. Hooper, and D. W. Hooper, both of Leavenworth, for the appellant.

Lee Bond, of Leavenworth, for the appellee.

OPINION

WEST, J.:

The plaintiff appeals from a judgment which preferred the lien of a repair bill to the plaintiff's chattel mortgage on an automobile sold by it. John Elloit bought an Overland car of the plaintiff, giving therefor seven notes for $ 37.50 each, one to become due August 15, 1917, and one on the 15th of each succeeding month until all were paid. He executed a chattel mortgage on the car, which was filed for record in the office of the recorder of deeds of Jackson county, Missouri. Elloit lived at Kansas City, Mo. Six of the notes remained unpaid at the time of the trial, and the plaintiff had at no time consented that the car be taken out of Jackson county. In August, 1917, one S. M. Roach, without the knowledge or consent of the plaintiff, brought the car in a damaged condition to the defendant's garage in Leavenworth and requested that it be repaired; this was done, and the bill therefor was $ 215.68. The defendant did not file for record any lien or claim for lien within sixty days thereafter, nor at any time before the beginning of the action. He kept possession of the car until taken from him by replevin, at all times claiming a lien for the amount of his bill. Considerable correspondence passed back and forth, but no settlement was reached by the parties.

The Missouri statute provides that no such instrument as the chattel mortgage shall be valid against any other person than the parties thereto, unless possession be given or unless the instrument be acknowledged or proved and recorded in the county where the mortgagor or grantor resides. Another statute of that state provides that every person who shall keep or store any vehicle shall for the amount due therefor have a lien, and every person who furnishes labor or material on any vehicle who shall obtain a written memorandum of the labor and material furnished, signed by the owner, shall have a lien for the amount thereof, but that such lien shall not take precedence over or be superior to any prior lien created by any chattel mortgage duly filed or recorded, without the written consent of the legal holder.

The court held that the defendant had an artisan's lien for $ 215.68 and, the car having been disposed of, he was given judgment for such sum.

Our statute provides that a first and prior lien is created in favor of any blacksmith, horseshoer, wagonmaker keeper of garage or any other person upon any automobile which shall have come into his possession for the purpose of having work done on it or repairs made, "and said lien shall amount to the full amount and reasonable value of...