Weitzel v. Zane

Citations

• 61 Pa. Super. 478
• 1915 Pa. Super. LEXIS 355

Syllabus

<p>Mechanic’s lien — Defenses—Agreement by contract with creditors — Act of June 4, 1901, Section 86, P. L. 481.</p> <p>Where a firm of contractors makes an assignment for the benefit of creditors under the Pennsylvania Insolvency Act, and subsequently enter into an agreement with their creditors by which the latter agree to refrain from bringing any action or suit against the insolvents and to release and exonerate them from any and all further liability, and to release the right to file liens against any of the real estate involved, an owner of real estate against which one of the creditors subsequently files a mechanic’s lien, may set up the agreement as a defense under Section 34 of the Act of June 4, 1901, P. L. 431, which provides that “any defense which will defeat the action were it a personal one against the contractor to recover for the particular work or materials required to be done or furnished under the -contract with the owner......shall wholly defeat the claim”; and this is the case although the agreement provided that creditors who “hold collateral security......shall have all the rights and privileges in their said collateral.”</p> <p>In such a case the owner may set up the agreement as a defense without showing payment to the contractor for materials, or any other equity.</p>