McBride v. Beakley
McBride v. Beakley
Opinion of the Court
This suit was brought by plaintiff in error, T. C. McBride, against defendants in error J. L. Beakley and E. C. Beakley, to recover a sum of money alleged to be due for labor and material used in connection therewith in repairing an automobile, owned by J. L. Beakley, and to foreclose a lien on the automobile repaired. Judgment was rendered for the amount claimed by plaintiff, but foreclosure of the lien on the automobile was denied on the ground that the lien was waived by the voluntary delivery of the automobile after the completion of the work thereon under circumstances hereinafter stated, and this action of the court below is the basis of the complaint of its judgment.
jThe said T. C. McBride, at the request of' J. L. Beakley, did certain work on an automobile belonging to him; the value of the labor and material put in on the said job being the sum of $115.38. McBride’s son, during the father’s absence, allowed E. C. Beakley, son of J. L. Beakley, to take possession of said automobile, requiring the said E. C. Beakley upon such delivery to execute his note to T. C. McBride for the sum of $115. The judgment was against J. L. Beak-ley for the amount of the account, $115.38, with interest, and against P. C. Beakley on the note, with provision that payment on either judgment would discharge to that extent the judgment against the other. It was claimed on the trial that McBride’s son had no authority from him to deliver the car without payment of the account; the father having left instructions with the son, who was in charge of his shop during his absence, to hold the car until the charges were paid. No issue of authority was submitted to the jury, and we will assume in support of the judgment that the court found against appellant on such issue. The jury found that McBride’s son voluntarily delivered the car to E. O. Beakley. The evidence shows that this delivery was made on E. 0. Beak-ley’s request and statement that his father would pay the charges upon his return; he also being absent.
“Mechanics, artisans and materialmen of every class, shall have a lien on the buildings and articles made or repaired by them for the value of their labor done thereon or material furnished therefor, and the Legislature shall provide by law for the speedy and efficient enforcement of said liens.”
This provision is self-executing. It creates the lien in the cases provided without the further aid of legislation; the province of the Legislature being to provide for the speedy and efficient enforcement thereof. “The lien does not depend upon the statute, and the Legislature has no power to affix to that lien conditions of forfeiture.-” Strang v. Pray, 89 Tex. 525, 35 S. W. 1056; F. & *1138 M. Bank v. Taylor, 91 Tex. 78, 40 S. W. 876, 966; Howell v. McMurry Lumber Co., 62 Tex. Civ. App. 584, 132 S. W. 848; Beilharz v. Illingsworth, 62 Tex. Civ. App. 647, 132 S. W. 109. While this provision of the Constitution has been most frequently under consideration in the courts, in connection with liens claimed, by mechanics and materialmen on buildings, we see no reason to question its applicability in the present instance. We will refer later to the statutory provisions in relation to this subject.
“To sustain this loss of lien (that is by waiver) it must be placed on one or the other of two ideas; intentional waiver or from the loss of possession. As to the first, authority is abundant to show that one will not be held to waive a lien unless the intent be expressed or very plain and clear; the presumption is always against it.” R. C. L. vol. 17, p. 606.
Article 5665, R. S., provides that mechanics are “authorized to retain possession of said article * * * (repaired) until the amount due on same for repairing by contract shall be fully paid off and discharged.” Article 5666 provides for the retention of possession where no amount is agreed upon for repairing until the reasonable and customary compensation for such work shall be paid. Article 5667 authorizes the holder of such property, after such possession shall have continued for 60 days, without payment of charges thereon, to sell the same after notice provided for and apply the proceeds to the payment of such charges. ' These statutory provisions should not be construed as attempting to limit the constitutional mechanic’s lien, unless that is their clear meaning, for, as we have seen, such is not the right of the Legislature. There are numerous authorities which establish that when material has been furnished or work done for the owner of a building the lien created by this same constitutional provision attaches as between the parties, and that a failure on the part of the lienholder to comply with the statutory regulations for filing the contract or account in order to fix the lien, though these provisions are mandatory in their terms, does not forfeit the lien. E. & M. Bank v. Taylor, supra; Beilharz v. Illingworth, supra; Howell v. McMurry Lumber Co., supra; *1139 Johnson v. Amarillo Improvement Co., 88 Tex. 505, 31 S. W. 506; Cameron v. Truehart, 165 S. W. 58. As the Constitution itself did not make the lien dependent upon possession, the Legislature would probably be without authority to provide for a forfeiture upon loss of possession; but we do not think that it was the intention of the Legislature to so provide. These articles of the statute are a part of a chapter devoted to providing liens in favor of hotels and boarding houses, livery stable keepers and pasturers, and mechanics, and article 5667 referred to above provides generally for the sale of the property in possession of the several classes of lienholders in satisfaction of the indebtedness due under the specific bailment. The liens created by this chapter are largely common-law liens in which possession constituted the foundation, and the evident purpose of the legislation was merely to restate the common law and make a specific provision for the manner of enforcing such possessory liens; the remedy at common law being deficient in this regard. Corpus Juris, vol. 6, p. 1137. This being the general purpose of the legislation, it is not to be inferred that the rights and remedies therein provided are to be construed as limiting the rights and remedies otherwise acquired and not inconsistent with the express terms of the legislation itself. The statute itself, by the terms of article 5671, makes it clear that it was not the intention of the lawmakers to “in any manner affect or impair other liens” created by any other authority. As applied to this particular case the statute, we think, provides one method of enforcing a lien where the mechanic has possession of the article repaired, but does not exclude others.
The cases of Ford Motor Co. v. Freeman, 168 S. W. 80, and Caldwell v. Auto Sales & Supply Co., 158 S. W. 1030, are cited by defendants in error as authdfity for the proposition that the lien was lost by voluntary delivery of the car to the owner. In both these cases the automobile, after being repaired, was voluntarily delivered to the owner without payment of the repair charges, and subsequently the mechanic came into possession of the automobile by virtue of another bailment contract and then sought to retain posséssion thus acquired to enforce the payment of the previous repair charges, and the issue in both cases was as to the right of the mechanic to hold possession of the automobile unaer these circumstances. We assume that the actual holdings of the courts in these cases are correct; the repair man, having voluntarily relinquished possession of the automobile, might not thereafter retake possession and hold it as against the owner, for the Constitution which created the lien in the mechanic’s favor did not authorize him to take possession from the owner of the article repaired and hold it until his charges were paid, so that the attempt to do this would not be justified by the constitutional provision, and the statute itself authorized the mechanic to “retain possession,” that is, continue the possession acquired by virtue of bailment for repair, and not retake possession once voluntarily relinquished. Those cases did not refer to the Constitution, but proceeded on the theory that the right of the mechanic was purely statutory — his possible right of possession was — and as that was all that was in issue in the case, there was no occasion to refer to the constitutional lien. We do not think those authorities apply in this case where the plaintiff in error is seeking to enforce his constitutional lien by a foreclosure in the courts.
<gx^>For other cases see same topic and KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests and Indexes
Reference
- Full Case Name
- McBRIDE v. BEAKLEY Et Al.
- Cited By
- 21 cases
- Status
- Published