Murphy v. Bear

Citations

• 240 Pa. 448
• 87 A. 854
• 1913 Pa. LEXIS 693

Syllabus

<p>Mechanics’ liens — Amount of claim — Contract price — Profit—' Evidence — Charge of court — Judgment n. o. v.</p> <p>1. Under the statutes in Pennsylvania, a mechanic’s claim for material and labor furnished under a contract to a building, may constitute a valid lien against the property, notwithstanding the claim involves some charge in the nature of a profit to the contractor. When a contractor stipulates to put up & building, and the owner agrees that he shall do so on certain terms, it must follow as a consequence that the mechanic acquires some profit if he accomplishes the work, and the owner binds himself to pay it, and this subjects the real estate to the possibility of a lien as the result of nonpayment.</p> <p>2. The court committed no error in refusing to enter judgment for defendant n. o. v., in an action of scire facias upon a mechanic’s lien, where the claimant proved a contract between himself and the owner, showing an agreed price for the job; a contract for extras at an agreed price; proved in detail the work and labor which it would have been necessary to do to finish the contracts together with the price which would then have been due, and established the amount of his claim by deducting from the sum which he would have received for the whole job, the money paid him on áecount and the value of the labor and material not furnished. Such method of proof cannot be said to include profit on labor and material not furnished; it valued the labor and material at the standard fixed by the parties themselves. Even if the method of proof had been erroneous, the question could not be raised by defendant after trying the case without objecting to the method of establishing the claim, which was also assumed as the basis of cross-examination of witnesses and of the defense offered by defendant.</p> <p>3. In such case where the action is between the contractor and the owner, it is not error to refuse to allow evidence of a lien filed by a sub-contractor.</p>