Central City Lumber Co. v. Weber
Central City Lumber Co. v. Weber
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiff furnished certain material to contractors who had undertaken to construct a house for defendant. The cost of the material was charged to the contractors on plaintiff’s books. The contractors abandoned the job, and defendant procured it to be finished. The cost of the material had been estimated by plaintiff, and all of it had been ordered by the contractors. The last material seems to have been furnished October 4, 1913. The balance left unpaid was $112.38. Plaintiff sued the owner for the unpaid balance, and recovered. The jury was instructed, in part, as follows:
“It is not enough that the defendant, Mr. Weber, simply promised to pay to the plaintiff company a debt owing to it by Andrews and Vogt. There is no written evidence signed by Weber to sustain such a
“I am not going to try to give all of what Finch testified to on that subject, nor all of what the defendant testifies to on that subject. You have heard the testimony, and it has been discussed here by the attorneys. But I shall refer to part of it and. what I may consider the very essential part.
“In the first conversation had over the phone, the plaintiff claims that Finch told Weber the company intended to hold the job anyway for its bill, and that Weber said, ‘All right.’ In that conversation there is no claim that Weber made any promise to pay, but, if that talk was had, he was informed that plaintiff intended to secure its pay by holding the job anyway, and plaintiff claims it was by such language understood by both parties that the company would place a lien on the property to secure itself. In other words, by the use of the language ‘it would hold the job for it,’ ‘hold the job anyway,’ it meant to put a lien on, which would be security and hold the job.
“In giving to you what I say their claims are, I have not covered all the language of those conversations, and it is for you to say what the conversations really were and what the parties meant by it and what the effect of the conversation was.
“But, if you find from a preponderance of the evidence, which means the greater weight of the evidence, in this case, that the defendant, Weber, for the purpose of inducing or prompting plaintiff to forbear filing a claim of mechanic’s lien, which lien plaintiff was then entitled by law to file, by promising plaintiff to pay the account in question, and said plaintiff relied upon such promise, and for that reason did not file a lien against the property of said defendant during the time when the same by law could be claimed — that is to say, within 60 days after the last of these materials were furnished — then under such state of facts, if you find they exist, I charge you that plaintiff’s forbearance to file a lien, and thereby relieving defendant’s property of the incumbrance, would be a good and valid consideration for defendant’s promise to pay it, and he would be liable therefor.”
Appellant contends there was no testimony warranting this instruction. In this I think he is right. There is testimony tending to prove that defendant said he would pay the debt, and that after all material had been delivered he asked for and was promised time in which to pay it, none tending to prove that the consideration for the promise was forbearance by plaintiff or an agreement on its part to forego the filing of a lien. It is not necessary to set out the testimony. Plaintiff’s witnesses do not claim there
Plaintiff relies upon an implication, namely, that because it once told defendant that, it would hold the property, and did not hold it (meaning by a mechanic’s lien), and defendant afterwards said he would pay the debt, it must have been understood by defendant that plaintiff was relying upon the promise and would therefore forego the lien. This is by no means the necessary, nor do I think it the proper, implication from the testimony.
The judgment is reversed, and there seems to be no reason for ordering a new trial.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CENTRAL CITY LUMBER CO. v. WEBER
- Status
- Published