34 Fla. 584 | Fla. | 1894
Suit was instituted in the Circuit Court by appellee ■on the 12th day of February, 1889, against appellant and A. Herbert Field, and after a demurrer to the declaration interposed by Hume had been overruled, plaintiff filed an amended declaration. Pleas were filed to the amended declaration by Hume and a trial had thereon. The amended declaration alleges that on the first day of January, 1888, Field became indebted to plaintiff in the sum of $231.50 for work and labor done and material furnished on a grove situated on the S. E. quarter of S. W. quarter of Section 21, Township 21, South of Range 30, East, in Orange county, Florida, then owned by Field; that Field failed and refused •to pay the sum mentioned, and plaintiff, on the 19th
The judgment in this‘ case must be reversed: The object of the suit on the part of the appellee is to enforce a lien on the land described in the declaration for labor ih cultivating and caring-for the orange grove-situated thereon from January 1, 1887, to January!,. 1888: Field owned the land and grove in 1887 and in November1 or -December,11886, made 'a-: contract -withappellee to cultivate and caie fdr the grove during the-year 1887 for the sum of-‘two hundred dollars::; Only-seventy ddllars -of this amount ¡was* -paid. - In ■ March, 1888, appellee filed and had recorded the notice of lien-referred to, and,in July,¡ 1888*!appellant Hume,bought the land from-Field. ■. -In ¡February, 1-889;* íthe, suit ¡was instituted. Field was not served^ with summons--and did' not- appear in¡ the ¡action.' The, theory .-of, ¡appelleeis that he had-a lien on the land' under the act of. 1887 (Chapter. 3747) for his labor performed :on the grove, and<thrat he-had a right, to. enforce, it.against the land in .the-hands of Hume. Itds, not claimed,- nor is .there-anything to indicate that,Hume was in. any; way per: sonally-.-liable,for appellee’s: .claim, as,if is-for labor performed on. the grove-while owned by. Field.The act of. June 3, 1887 (Chapter. 3747) took effect sixty days after the adjournment'of .the Legislature:of that year, and, as it appears, most of the labor, performed by .appellee on , the grove was before that time. Soiar. as this - case is concerned it is not necessary to'.decide-whether the lien existed; under the act mentioned only for labor, performed-after it became operative..- ..If it be conceded that appellee.- had a lien under tbe!said act
One of the defenses set up was that appellee was not entitled to any lien at the institution of the suit, and the court was asked to instruct the jury for the defendant that “if they find that plaintiff had a lien for work done as alleged in his declaration, then any such lien expired six months from the last day on which any such work and labor were performed, and that unless the evidence shows that this suit was commenced within such period of six months the plaintiff can not maintain his claim to a^ lien on said land.” This request was refused and a contrary instruction given to the jury. The charges given and refused on •this point were excepted to, and the errors assigned on them are fatal to the judgment rendered. We are satisfied that the six months’ limitation prescribed in the 17th section of the act of 1887 applies to all actions for enforcing liens created by the 3rd section of said act, the only one under which appellee can insist that he had any lien on the land, and this being the case, the court erred in instructing the jury as it ■did, and in refusing to give the instruction asked by
It will be observed that the suit was not instituted by attachment or by affidavit and summons, as provided in the act mentioned.
There are other questions presented on the record before us, but as the point decided disposes of appellee’s right to subject the land to any lien for labor performed during the year 1887, it is not necessary to refer to them.
The judgment appealed from will be reversed, and it is so ordered.