Marshall v. Brick

Citations

• 174 Pa. 190
• 34 A. 520
• 1896 Pa. LEXIS 870

Syllabus

<p>Mechanic's lien — Contract—Statute of frauds.</p> <p>A contractor in a building contract failed before the completion of the buildings, and the plaintiff, a large creditor of the contractor, who became the purchaser of his property at sheriff’s sale, agreed to finish the building and to assume the contractor’s place under the original building contract. The owner of the buildings paid the full amount of the contract price either to the original contractor or, with the plaintiff’s assent, to mechanics and material men. Plaintiff filed a mechanic’s lien for sums expended in excess of the contract price. In a scire facias sur mechanic’s lien it was held, (1) that the agreement of the plaintiff to finish the buildings was an original agreement entered into for his own advantage, and was not within the statute of frauds; (2) that he could not do the work, and then by filing a mechanic’s lien recover for it in a manner wholly different from that of the agreement when the work was undertaken; (3) that a verdict and judgment for defendant should be sustained.</p>