Ogden v. Byington

RICHARDS, J.

This appeal is by the plaintiff from a judgment in the defendants ’ favor in an action brought by the former to establish and foreclose a lien upon the real property of certain of the defendants. On and prior to March 22, 1920, the defendants, other than T. E. Maroney, were the owners of a large tract of land in the county of Colusa, and thereafter continued to be the owners of said lands down to and after the date of the institution of this action. On March 22, 1920, the said owners of said lands entered into a cropping lease, in writing, whereby they leased to the defendant Maroney their said lands for a period of two years or thereabouts for the purpose of planting and growing thereon “rice and other grain.” By the terms of said lease the lessee was to properly irrigate said land and do

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all things to insure the growing of a good crop of rice thereon and to harvest the same and to deliver to the lessors one-third in weight of said rice; except that the lessors were to provide two pumps and engines for the supplying of water to certain portions of said premises from a water channel upon said lands, and were also to pay the expense of the necessary plowing and watering of a certain portion of said lands, during the summer of 1920, which had become infested with water grass, for the purpose of eradicating the same. The said lessee went into possession of the whole of said premises under said lease, and on April 12, 1920, entered into a written agreement with the plaintiff herein by the terms of which the latter was to furnish certain stock and equipment at designated prices per month, consisting of teams, scrapers, plows, wagons, truck, tents, utensils, and labor for use “in connection with the construction of irrigating ditches and levee work” upon land generally described as lying about five miles northeast of Colusa, and for which said Maroney was to pay as the said work proceeded. Upon completion of the work contemplated by this agreement the said Maroney not having paid the full amount claimed by plaintiff on account of the performance by him of said agreement, the plaintiff filed and recorded a claim of lien under the provisions of part 3, title IV, chapter II, of the Code of Civil Procedure against the real property of the said owners of said lands covering the balance alleged to remain due upon said agreement; and thereafter and on October 18, 1920, commenced this action for the establishment and foreclosure of said lien. The defendants other than said Maroney appeared and answered, denying the existence and validity of said asserted lien upon their said real property, and in the trial which followed upon the issues thus presented the trial court made its findings of fact and conclusions of law, wherein it found that while the said plaintiff furnished to said Maroney the material, labor, appliances, teams, supplies, etc., to be used and which were used in connection with the preparation of the said lands for the planting of a crop of rice thereon, the said preparation thereof and the work done in connection therewith and the results accomplished thereby were solely and only for agricultural purposes and were part of the work necessary to and included in the cultivation of said lands and the rais