47 Pa. Super. 96 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1911
Opinion by
The plaintiff appeals from an order of the court below striking off a mechanic’s lien. The ground upon which the learned judge of the court below based his action was that the notice given by the appellant to the owner of an intention to file this lien had not been served in time. The claim as filed averred that written notice of the intention to file the lien had been duly served upon the owner on October 27, 1908, and that it was so served is not questioned. Whether service upon that day was in time is, for present purposes, to be determined by the facts averred in the claim as filed, and not from matters outside of the record: Thirsk v. Evans, 211 Pa. 239; Burger v. Moss Cigar Co., 225 Pa. 400; Hiestand v. Keath, 229 Pa. 149. The eighth section of the Act of June 4,1901, P. L. 431, requires subcontractors to serve the owner of the building with written notice of an intention to file a claim within three months after the last of his work was done or materials furnished and the eleventh section of the same statute, as amended by the Act of April 17,1905, P. L. 172, requires that the lien, when filed, must set forth when and how service of such notice has been made upon the owner: Bametzrieder v. Canevin, 44 Pa. Superior Ct. 18. The
The court in reaching this conclusion held that the last two items in the bill of particulars, which was embodied in the lien, were so defectively set forth that they must be stricken out and disregarded, and the striking out of these items left all the earlier charges in the bill of particulars subject to the objection that the notice was not served in time. The charges which the court thus held must be eliminated were (1) “ 1908, May 27th to August 12th, Cost of erection in the building at Shenandoah, Pa. $100.00” and (2) “September 3rd, To putting in new filler on ends of frames $2.00.” If these items stood alone, without explanation concerning them, the question here presented might not be without difficulty, but they did not stand alone and they were fully explained in the body of the claim. The plaintiff had attached to and made part of its claim as filed, the contract between it and the principal contractor, which was in writing. That contract and all the averments of the body of the claim are to be considered in determining whether or not the items, which the learned judge of the court below held must be stricken out, were sufficiently averred as matters constituting a lien and as of the time stated in the bill of particulars, and whether it sufficiently appeared from the averments of the claim that any work and materials, which were the subject of lien, had been done and furnished within three months prior to the service of the notice: American Car & Foundry Co. v. Alexandria Water Co., 215 Pa. 520. The claim was filed to secure a lien for the balance due for the construe
The order of the court below is reversed, the lien is reinstated, and the record is remitted for further proceedings.