Winton v. Benore
Winton v. Benore
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The contest in this case arises between the appellants, under a mortgage of B. E. Leonard’s real estate, dated August 14, 1897, and recorded on the same day, and the appellees under a mechanic’s lien, against the same real estate, filed in the common pleas of Lackawanna county on August 5,1897, and duly entered in the mechanic’s lien docket therein. The mechanic’s lien was for alterations, repairs and additions to the building on the premises described in the said mortgage. This lien contained no averment that notice had been given by John Benore & Son, the claimants therein, to B. E. Leonard, the owner of the building, at the time of furnishing the work and material, of their intention to file a mechanic’s lien therefor. The lien was filed under the Act of June 16, 1836, P. L. 695 and its supplements of May 1, 1861, P. L. 550 and of May 18, 1887, P. L. 118.
The lien substantially contains all that is required by the act of June 16, 1836, which act required no notice as a prerequisite of the filing of a mechanic’s lien. This act, however, did not authorize the filing of a lien for alterations, repairs and additions to buildings. Authority for liens in such cases is found in the supplements to the act of 1836.
The act of May 1, 1861,’ simply provided that, “ an act re
Then came the act of May 18, 1887, which extended the above act to all of the counties of the commonwealth, and it contains the following proviso, which gives rise to the contest in the present case: “ And provided further, that to entitle anyone to the benefits of this act he shall give notice to the owner or reputed owner of the property, or his or her agent, at the time of furnishing the materials, or performing work hi or about the repairs, alterations or additions to any house or other building, of his intention to file a lien under the provisions of this act.”
A motion was made on behalf of the mortgagee to strike off the mechanic’s lien because it did not aver the notice above required. Thereupon the claimant moved to amend the lien by averring that notice was given as required by the act but that it was omitted from the lien by mistake. Upon these motions rules were granted and upon hearing and investigation, the learned president of the court below made the rule absolute, and allowed the lien to be amended as prayed for, and discharged the rule to strike off the lien. Afterwards the case was tried before the court and a jury and the fact was found that the claimants gave the proper notice of their intention to file a lien. After the mortgaged premises had been sold by the sheriff the distribution of the fund was referred to an au
There is nothing in the act of 1836, the act of 1861, or the act of 1887, requiring that the claimant shall aver in his lien the giving of the notice referred to.
We have plenty of decisions of the Supreme Court, and of this court, to the effect that the giving of the notice is a prerequisite to .the filing of a lien for alterations, repairs and additions. But in none of these cases has it ever been held that the lien is bad when the notice was actually given and the claimant was offering to prove it and amend his lien accordingly. Hothersall v. Rust, 18 Pa. Superior Ct. 495, is authority for the proposition that such lien can only be sustained by complying with the provisions of the Act of May 18, 1887, P. L. 118, as to notice. But that appears to be a case where no notice was in fact given. See also Smyers v. Beam, 158 Pa. 57, also Groezinger v. Ostheim, 135 Pa. 604. The latter is another case where no notice was given. Presbyterian Church v. Conlin, 19 Pa. Superior Ct. 515, is another case holding that a lien for alterations and repairs, filed without notice, is not good. But that case is not authority for the proposition that the notice must be averred in the lien. We might cite many other decisions but none of them, by the appellate courts, sustain the learned auditor in his decision that the lien was bad because the notice was not averred therein.
We are aware that several of the common pleas courts have taken the contrary view and again several others have held as did the court below.
Upon careful consideration the assignments of error are all dismissed and the order or decree of the court below is affirmed, at the costs of the appellants.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.