Hunt v. Continental National Bank

RICHARDS, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of certain defendants in an action in interpleader brought by the plaintiff, as county treasurer of Los Angeles County, to determine certain conflicting claims to certain bonds issued by the said treasurer under the provisions of the Road District Improvement Act of 1907.

The facts out of which the controversy arose are undisputed and are briefly these: The supervisors of the county of Los Angeles undertook the construction of a road therein under the provisions of the Road District Improvement Act of 1907. (Stats. 1907, p. 806.) The contract was regularly let to a contractor and the work completed thereunder and duly accepted by said board, and the bonds provided in said act to be issued in payment for such work were duly issued by the said treasurer of the county as required by the terms of said act. In the meantime and after the execution of the contract and prior to the completion of the work the

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contractor, in consideration of money advanced to Mm by the Continental National Bank to enable him to prosecute such work and as security for such advances, assigned to the said Continental National Bank his said contract and his rights thereunder to the issuance to him of the said bonds to be issued in payment for said work. Upon the completion of said work various laborers and materialmen who had performed labor upon or supplied materials and appliances for use in the performance of said work, and whose claims had not been paid by the contractor, filed with the said board of supervisors notices of their claims, with notices to withhold payment to the contractor under the provisions of section 1184 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and thereby undertook to assert their respective claims of right to receive the amounts of their said claims out of the said bonds before any issuance of the same to or payments thereunder to the contractor or his said assignee. The Continental National Bank, as such assignee, also presented its claim of right to receive all of said bonds under and by virtue of its said assignment thereof from said contractor. To determine these adverse claims to the bonds in question the plaintiff,' as such treasurer, instituted this action, and the parties defendant, having been thus interpleaded, presented their respective claims tb the trial court, which by its judgment undertook to declare that the said labor and material lien claimants had by virtue of their said stop notices under section 1184 of the Code of Civil Procedure established their right to payment of their said claims out of said bonds and had liens thereon, which the trial court attempted to enforce and satisfy by directing certain of said bonds, amounting in value to the sum of $4,560.58, the aggregate amount of said labor and materialmen’s claims, should be delivered to the sheriff of said county to be collected by him as payable, the proceeds thereof to be applied in satisfaction of such claims.