Trout v. Siegel

CURTIS, J.

Action brought to foreclose a mechanic’s lien. The plaintiff and defendant, Joe Siegel, entered into a contract whereby plaintiff was to construct a frame dwelling-house and garage upon a certain lot owned by defendant Siegel situated in the city of Anaheim, county of Orange, and for which said defendant agreed to pay plaintiff the sum of $2,850, $1,000 of which sum was paid. Work under this contract was commenced on May 16, 1923, and the contract was completed about July 28, 1923, and on August 6, 1923, plaintiff filed for record his claim of lien against said real property. In the meantime, however, the defendant Siegel had borrowed of the defendant, the State Mutual Building & Loan Association, the sum of $2,800, evidenced by a promissory note in said amount, which note was secured by a trust deed to said real property, executed by defendant Siegel and wife in favor of the Title Insurance & Trust Company of Los Angeles, as trustee. This trust deed was delivered and recorded

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five days after plaintiff commenced work under his contract to construct said house. The interest on said promissory note not having been paid when due, the trustee advertised and sold said real property according to the terms of said trust deed to satisfy the indebtedness evidenced by said promissory note, and at said sale the defendant, the State Mutual Building and Loan Association, became the purchaser of said real property and thereby became the owner of the legal title to the same. At the trial of said action the court sustained an objection to the introduction of said claim of lien upon the ground that by its terms it failed to meet the requirements of section 1187 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which provides that claims of lien shall contain among other things “a general statement of the kind of work done or materials furnished by him, or both.” Judgment was rendered in favor of defendant, State Mutual Building & Loan Association, and against plaintiff. From this judgment the plaintiff has appealed, and the sole point involved in this appeal is the sufficiency of the statement in said claim of lien “of the kind of work done or materials furnished” by plaintiff under his said contract. Plaintiff’s claim of lien was as follows:

“Notice of Contractor’s Claim of Lien.

“Notice is hereby given that on or about the 16th day of May, 1923, George E. Trout entered into a contract with Joe Siegel, for the construction and erection of a certain building on the premises, situated in the city of Anaheim, county of Orange, state of California, described as follows, to-wit: