Johnson v. La Grave
Johnson v. La Grave
Opinion of the Court
The respondent, La Grave, entered into a contract with his co-defendant, Kearns, for the construction of a building in San Francisco for the sum of four thousand nine hundred and fifty-six dollars. After performing a portion of his contract, Kearns, on the 24th of October, 1891, gave to the appellant written notice that he abandoned the contract, and declined to proceed further in its execution, and thereafter did no
The court finds that after the execution of the contract between Kearns and the respondent, and before work was commenced on the building, a sufficient memorandum of the contract was filed in the oifice of the county recorder, so that the right of the plaintiff to enforce his liens is limited by the contract between Kearns and La Grave.
Section 1187 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that “every person save the original contractor, claiming the benefit of this chapter, must within thirty days after the completion of any building, file for record with the county recorder” his claim of lien, and that “cessation from labor for thirty days upon any unfinished contract .... shall be deemed equivalent to a completion thereof for all the purposes of this chapter.” As Kearns abandoned the contract October 24, 1891, and as no work was thereafter done upon the building under said contract, it was incumbent upon those who would claim any lien by virtue of his contract with La Grave to file their claim of lien with the county recorder within thirty days after the 23d of November, and, as the claims of lien held by the plaintiff herein were not filed until January, 1892, they did not create any lien upon the building, or constitute any charge against the respondent. Although the appellant has specified, as one of the particulars in which the evidence is insufficient to
. As the plaintiff is not entitled to enforce any lien
The judgment is affirmed.
Paterson, J., and Garoutte, J., concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- A. B. JOHNSON v. CHARLES La GRAVE
- Cited By
- 9 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Building Contract—Abandonment by Original Contractor—Cessation oe Work—Completion—Mechanics’ Liens—Time of Filing.—Where the original contractor under a building contract gave to the owner of the building written notice that he abandoned the contract, and that he declined to proceed further in its execution, and thereafter did no work upon the building, whereupon the owner contracted with another builder to complete the construction of the building, it is incumbent upon those who claim any mechanics’ liens by virtue of the original contract to file their claims of lien with the county recorder within thirty days after there has been a cessation from labor for thirty days upon the unfinished contract. Id.—New Contract Immaterial.—Where a building contract is abandoned it is immaterial whether the building is subsequently completed by the owner or not; and a subsequent contract by the owner for the completion of the work is as disconnected with the original contract as if it were for the construction of a different building. Id.—Loss of Lien—Disposition of Money Due Contractor.—Where the rights of materialmen to enforce a lien upon a building has been lost by failure to file their claims of lien in time, it is immaterial to them or to their assignee whether any portion of the moneys due to the contractor was unpaid at the time he had entered into the contract, or whether the owner made a proper disposition of the unpaid portion of the contract price.