Stimson Mill Company v. Braun

HARRISON, J.

The appellants were the owners of certain property in Los Angeles, upon which was a five-story building, known as “Vickery Block,” and entered into a contract with the defendants Parton and Tuttle for its improvement. This improvement included taking out all the interior work of the building and furnishing the material and labor necessary to reconstruct it in accordance with certain drawings and specifications. The contract provided that the appellants should pay to the contractors for the work and materials $12,254, in certain installments, the last of which, amounting to $3,064, was to be paid thirty-five days after the completion and acceptance of the work. One provision of the contract was: “All old material to be the property of the contractor,” and in the specifications attached thereto was the provision: “The contractors shall have the right to use such old material in building the new building and reconstructing the old as may be in conformity with the specifications and plans, to the approval of the architect.” No sum was agreed upon between the owners and the contractors as to the value or price of the said old material, but the court found that the value of that portion which was not used in the reconstruction of the building was $2,200. The above-named plaintiff furnished certain materials to the contractors, which were used by them in the performance of their contract, for which it filed a claim of lien, and it is also the assignee of other material-men and laborers, who had filed notices of their respective claims of lien upon the said property. The present action is for the foreclosure of these liens. The appellants paid to the contractors the several installments of the $12,254 agreed to be paid by them as they became due, except the final one of $3,064, and at the time of filing their answer herein brought into court and deposited with the clerk said last-named sum, to be distributed by the decree of the court to the parties entitled thereto according to their respective rights. Other actions brought by other lien claimants were

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consolidated with the action brought by the above-named plaintiff, and were tried at the same time. The court found the value of the labor and materials furnished by the several plaintiffs and' their assignors to be $9,804.44, for which, together with attorney’s fees, amounting to $553, and the costs of the actions, they were entitled to a lien upon the property. Judgment was thereupon entered directing a sale of the property, and that the plaintiffs be paid the said amounts out of the proceeds thereof. From this judgment the owners have appealed.