Davenport v. Grundy Motor Sales Co.

SHAW, J.

These actions grew out of the following facts: The plaintiff, Davenport, who was the owner of an automobile, sold the same under a lease or conditional sale contract to one Seymour who agreed to pay for the same in installments, the title thereto meanwhile to remain in plaintiff until the stipulated price was fully paid. Seymour, having possession of the car under and by virtue of this contract,

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left it with The Grundy Motor Sales Company, which, at his request, made repairs thereon amounting in value to $236.85, for which it claimed a lien under section 3051 of the Civil Code, which provides that

“a

person who makes, alters or repairs any article of personal property, at the request of the owner, or legal possessor of the property, has a lien on the same for his reasonable charges for the balance due for such work done and materials furnished, and may retain possession of the same until the charges are paid.” Seymour made default in the payment of the installments agreed to be paid, whereupon plaintiff, after making demand upon The Grundy Motor Sales Company for the delivery of the car, and its refusal to deliver the same, commenced the action hereinabove first entitled to recover' possession of the car. Before the officer could execute the writ, The Grundy Motor Sales Company sold the automobile to other parties from whom Condon and Davis, defendants in the second above-entitled action, purchased it; whereupon the second suit was instituted.

The appeals are prosecuted from judgments rendered in favor of defendants in both cases.

The sole question involved is whether or not The Grundy Motor Sales Company was entitled to a lien for the work done and materials furnished in making repairs upon the automobile at the request of Seymour to whom the plaintiff had delivered possession under the terms of the contract for the conditional sale thereof. Appellant insists that as Seymour did not have title to the property, no lien for repairs could be based upon any act or request of his. This contention, however, is contrary to the plain import of the language used in the statute, which, as we have seen, expressly provides that one making repairs at the request of the legal possessor of the property shall have a lien therefor. That Seymour was the legal possessor of the automobile, admits of no question. The case of