L. W. Blinn Lumber Co. v. American Cement Products Co.
L. W. Blinn Lumber Co. v. American Cement Products Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal by the defendants ' American Cement Products Company and Henry Braun from an adverse judgment in consolidated lien suits for materials furnished and used in the construction of certain additions to a building. Braun is the owner of the land upon which the building was placed. The American Cement Products Company, as lessee of the land, caused the work to be done. In the complaints, which are identical in form, *480 it was alleged that the American Cement Products Company-entered into a contract with the California-Arizona Construction Company whereby the latter Company was to “perform certain improvement work in the way of an addition to the frame and corrugated iron building located upon said property. ” But it was farther alleged that no contract or bond relative to said work was ever filed or recorded. The court found that these allegations were true. It further appeared, and was so found by the court, that the only construction work agreed to be done, or which was done, by the Construction Company consisted in the laying of cement floors; that all of the construction work other than said floors was done by and under the direct supervision of the Products Company ; that by reason of a course of commercial transactions, both present and prospective, between the Products Company and the Construction Company, both companies were interested in having said building additions made in order the better to develop these business enterprises; that under and by reason of these circumstances an agreement was made that the materials entering into the construction of these building additions would be furnished to the Products Company by the Construction Company and paid for in merchandise sold by the Products Company to the Construction Company; that pursuant to these arrangements the materials were ordered from the plaintiffs by the Construction Company and were by the plaintiffs delivered on the leased premises, where they were used in the construction of said building additions. The materials furnished by the plaintiffs consisted of lumber from the Lumber Company and iron and steel materials from the Hardware and Metal Company. We need not detail more fully the. facts proved by the evidence and found by the court. The defendants contended that upon the facts proved it was established that the Construction Company was the materialman who furnished to the owner the materials used in the building; that the plaintiffs were merchants who sold these materials to the materialman (the Construction Company), and that therefore the plaintiffs acquired no right of lien against the improved property on account of materials furnished by them. The plaintiffs, on the other hand, claimed that the circumstances, as shown by the evidence and stated in the findings, were such that it should be held that these materials were in reality furnished directly to *481 the owner ¡ that it was a part of the plan and intention of the agreement made between the Products Company and the Construction Company for the furnishing of said materials that the Construction Company should order the materials from the plaintiffs for delivery to the Products Company; that therefore, at least for the purpose of determining the right of lien of the plaintiffs as materialmen, the Construction Company should be regarded merely as an agent who by authority of the Products Company procured the materials to be furnished. Thus it is seen that the defendants relied upon the rule, which seems to be well established in this state, that persons who occupy the position of vendors of materials to a materialman and who are only such vendors, are not entitled to liens for the materials sold and delivered. (Roebling's Sons Co. v. Humboldt etc. Co., 112 Cal. 288, [44 Pac. 568].) Since the judgment must be reversed for another reason hereinafter stated, it becomes unnecessary to undertake a more complete study and analysis of the facts and the law which would be essential to a determination of the question whether or not the respondents occupy the actual position of materialmen toward appellants herein.
It is ordered that the judgment be, and the same is hereby, reversed.
Shaw, J., and James, J., concurred.
A petition to have the cause heard in the supreme court, after judgment in the district court of appeal, was denied by the supreme court on April 19, 1921.
All the Justices concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The L. W. BLINN LUMBER COMPANY (A Corporation), Respondent, v. AMERICAN CEMENT PRODUCTS COMPANY (A Corporation), Et Al., Appellants
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published