Thompson Yards, Inc. v. Haakinson & Beaty Co.
| Decision Date | 18 February 1930 |
| Docket Number | 40048 |
| Parties | THOMPSON YARDS, INCORPORATED, Appellant, v. HAAKINSON & BEATY COMPANY, Appellant, et al., Appellees |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from Woodbury District Court.--C. C. HAMILTON, Judge.
Suit and cross suit, to recover for material and labor furnished and to establish and foreclose mechanics' liens. The court denied the mechanics' liens, the claimants for which appeal.
Affirmed.
Clapp Richardson, Elmquist, Briggs & McCartney and Pendleton & Browning, for plaintiff, appellant.
Marks & Marks, for defendant, appellant.
Stason & Knoepfler, John R. Carter, Kindig, Stewart & Hatfield Brackney, Farr & Stockman, George H. Bliven, E. E. Baron, W. V. Steuteville, and Peter Balkema, for appellees.
MORLING, C. J. DE GRAFF, ALBERT, and WAGNER, JJ., concur, STEVENS, J., concurs in result.
The building now known as the Strand Theatre in Sioux City has a south street frontage of about 43 feet, and a north and south depth of 100 feet. The west half of the south 50 feet, with the ground on which it stands, is owned by defendant Elliott; the east half of the south 50 feet and ground by the defendant Cathcart. The north half of the property and ground is owned by defendants Nelson and Anderson. We infer that these portions originally were separate buildings, which were later combined into a theatre building. Each owner had leased his several property by separate and independent contract to different lessees and for different terms. There is no evidence of any joint relationship or understanding between the property owners. In 1923 and 1924, defendants Goldstein and Bergin acquired leases of the three portions of the property. Goldstein and Bergin, on June 3, 1924, made a contract with defendant Singer-Brodkey Construction Company for remodeling and reconstructing work, at a cost not to exceed $ 16,660. The mechanics' lien claimants furnished labor and material for this work on the order of the Singer-Brodkey Company and Goldstein and Bergin.
By Section 10270, Code, 1924, Subdivision 1:
"'Owner' shall include every person for whose use or benefit any building, erection, or other improvement is made * * *"
Section 10271 provides:
"Every person who shall furnish any material for or perform any labor upon any building, * * * by virtue of any contract with the owner, his agent, trustee, contractor, or subcontractor shall have a lien * * *"
The question presented is whether the mechanics' lien claimants had "any contract with the owner" or his agent. No express contract with either owner is claimed, nor is it asserted in behalf of the mechanics' lien claimants that they had a contract with anyone who had an express contract of agency with any of such owners. The mechanics' lien claimants' contention is, in substance, that the holders of the leases, Goldstein and Bergin, were, by implication, the agents of the owners, and that claimants, through them, had an implied contract with the owners for supplying the labor and material in controversy. The division line between the three properties was not marked or observable. In general, the work on the north 50 feet owned by defendants Nelson and Anderson "was the placing of four concrete columns and some plaster work and 14 feet of balcony." "A considerable amount of work" was done on the foundation of the north 50 feet of the east wall, the Nelson-Anderson property. The improvement of the west half of the south 50 feet, owned by defendant Elliott, consisted of a plaster partition and store front, new concrete floor, part of balcony, and remodeling a part of west wall, some plastering, patching and construction of projecting room, one half of which is on the Elliott property, and one half on the Cathcart property. Part of the west foundation wall of the Elliott property was replaced and raised. The work done on the east half of the south 50 feet, the Cathcart property, was the installing of a terra-cotta front and new canopy, marble work, concrete stairs, new concrete floor, four concrete columns, basement brick wall, two toilets, new second floor, one half the projecting booth, new plaster. The east foundation wall of the Cathcart property was patched and strengthened. A new front for the Elliott and Cathcart part of the building was constructed, by which the entrance was changed from the Elliott property to the Cathcart property, and a store installed in the Elliott property.
This description of the work is partial, but sufficiently indicates its nature for present purposes. The mechanics' lien claimants attempted to allocate by expert testimony the material furnished to the different properties. The owners, or their agents, knew of the work, but nominally were not parties to any agreement under which the work was done or material furnished. Defendant Cathcart had leased her property to Orkin Brothers by lease expiring July 1, 1926, and on November 22, 1923, Cathcart leased the property to Goldstein and Bergin for eight years, from January 1, 1926, to 1934. The lease provided:
This lease is also signed by Sadoff. An agreement signed by Cathcart and Sadoff, dated July 18,...
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