Credit Bureau of San Diego, Inc. v. Williams

MUSSELL, J.

Plaintiff, as assignor of Roy F. Clark, a roofing subcontractor, brought this action to foreclose a mechanic’s lien upon property in San Diego owned by respondents Homer M., Harold M. and June M. Collier. The trial court in its decree permitted recovery of a money judgment against the contractor, defendant Louis A. Williams, but denied the lien claim of Roy F. Clark upon the ground that his filed and recorded notice of lien did not sufficiently describe and identify the subject real property. Plaintiff appeals from that portion of the judgment decreeing that Roy F. Clark does not have any mechanic’s lien and is not entitled to the foreclosure of any lien against the Colliers.

The mechanic’s lien filed by Roy F. Clark described the property upon which he claimed a lien for labor and material as “2152 California St., San Diego, Calif., which premises claimant is informed and believes to be described as lot 5, block 227.”

It appears from the record before us that California Street in San Diego runs generally north and south, commencing at Market Street (an east-west street). In the 800 block it extends northwestward to what is commonly called California Street Hill, at the top of which is Henry Street, in the 3900 block. A few feet south of the 3900 block on California Street there is a street running westerly and the numbers on it westward begin at 1900. This street is sometimes called West California Street. However, the city of San Diego has no official designation of any street known as West California Street. There are no houses in the 2100 block going northward on California Street from Market Street and this block is taken up largely with railway tracks running in a northerly and southerly direction, with a path approximately 20 feet wide on the west side of the tracks. There is no number 2152 on California Street in what would normally be the 2100 block

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traveling northward thereon from Market Street. While there was testimony that block numbers from 200 up in what is known as Middletown Addition in San Diego would be on what is called West California Street, the notice of lien does not show that the premises involved herein were situated on Lot 5 in Block 227 in that addition nor does it contain a reference to any subdivision.