Pearce v. Albright
Pearce v. Albright
Opinion of the Court
OPINION OF THE COURT.
This is a suit brought to foreclose a mechanics’ lien for work and labor done and the furnishing of materials used in repairing a house. The work and labor was done and the materials furnished at the instance of one Dolly Monbars, lessee of the appellant, Mrs. Albright, who owned the property. The evidence shows and the court below found, that the owner of the property knew that the materials were being furnished and the repairs being made, and that she did not post the notice on the property within three days required by section 2226 of the Compiled Laws of 1897, that she would not be responsible for the same.
To the complaint a demurrer was filed, of which it will be necessary for us to consider only two of the grounds set up in it, to-wit:
(1) That the notice of lien was defective, in that it did not contain a statement of the terms, time given, and condition of the plaintiff’s alleged contract, and (2), that the alleged notice was not signed with the legal name of any person, it being signed by F. L. Pearce.
If the first ground of demurrer was true in fact the complaint should have been dismissed, but an examination of the lien discloses that- it does contain a statement of the terms, time given, and condition of the contract. It shows that the contractor Pearce, on or about December 20, 1900, entered into a verbal contract with Dolly Monbars, the occupant of the premises, to perform the. labor and furnish the materials for the repair of the property in question for the sum of $200, and that after-wards, at her request, be did other work and furnished additional materials outside of the contract price to the extent of $14.25; and that all of said labor was done and materials furnished between December 20, 1900, and January 30, 1901. That payments were to be made as the work progressed, and the balance on the completion of the contract. That $122 bad been paid on account, leaving a balance due of $92.25, after allowing all just credits and off-sets. This lien is sworn to by F. L. Pearce, and a statement of bis account is attached thereto. We think that this notice of lien meets the objections raised by appellant.
We are aware that at common law a pleading describing parties by the initials only of their Christian names, was bad on special demurrer, but we think that this is not the modern rule, and that no written instrument should be regarded as a nullity, solely because the Christian name is designated by initials instead of being-written out in full. Ferguson v. Smith, 10 Kan. 396. The use of initials only instead of writing out the Christian name of a person in any legal instrument is a practice not to be commended.
The court purposely overruled the demurrer, and after the overruling of the demurrer the defendant below (appellant herein) filed an answer, and the attorney for the appellee filed a motion to strike out the greater part of it, and a demurrer. This motion and demurrer were in one paper, and so far as the record shows were never acted on by the court, as the next step taken in the case, as shown by the transcript, was the hearing of evidence by the court. This hearing was on November 29th, and December 2, 1902. The evidence was gone into quite fully.
There is no error in the judgment complained of and the case is hereby remanded to the district court of Bernalillo county with instructions to modify the judgment heretofore entered in this cause so as to conform with the disclaimer filed by the defendant, and it is so ordered.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- F. L. PEARCE v. FRANC. E. L. ALBRIGHT
- Cited By
- 9 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- SYLLABUS. 1. In this case the notice of lien does contain a statement of the terms, time given and conditions of the plaintiff’s contract. 2. Because the Christian name of the the person who signed the notice of lien was not written out in full, but was designated by initials, the noti.ce of lien is not a nullity. But the use of initials only instead of writing out the Christian name of a person in legal instruments is a practice not to be commended. 3. An appellant cannot take advantage of the fact that the court did not pass upon a motion and demurrer filed by appellee, as he is not injured thereby. The appellee alone could have objected to the action of the court in going to trial without having disposed of them. 4. When a ease is tried by the court, without the intervention of a jury, neither party objecting or excepting, and when both parties appear and produce witnesses, presumably they desired a hearing, and it is too late for the appellant to first raise the point on appeal to this court, that the record does no show the jury was waived. 5. The value of attorney’s fees can he found by the court in-the absence of evidence on that point, other than the record of the proceedings. 6. It was error in ordering that execution issue against the appellant, if the property in which the lien attached did not bring enough to satisfy the judgment, but this error is cured by appellee having filed a disclaimer, waiving any personal judgment against appellant.