149 Pa. 139 | Pa. | 1892
Opinion by
The question raised on this appeal relates to the distribution of the proceeds of a sale by the receiver of the property of the Keystone Oil Co., described in the claims of the mechanics and material-men. These claims, with interest and costs, amounted to the sum of $38,625.02, were within the purview of the mechanics’ lien laws, sufficient in form and substance, and filed in time, and in conformity with the procedure provided for their enforcement, judgments were recovered upon them. They
It is now contended by the appellant that the liens of the mechanics and material-men did not extend to and embrace all the land described in them, nor all the structures located thereon, although such structures were necessary for the proper prosecution of the business in which the Keystone Oil Co. was engaged, but that such liens were limited to the buildings and curtilage necessary for one branch of that business ; and, further, that the property covered by the liens so limited did not exceed in value the remainder of the property contained in the description. The Keystone Oil Co. was a corporation formed for the purpose, inter alia, “ of refining and manufacturing petroleum and other oils into their various products,” and of compounding “ petroleum and other oils and their products with other necessary and desirable substances.” The 55 acre lot, and the buildings, machinery and appliances erected thereon, were devoted exclusively to the business for which the company was created, and it is not denied that they were required for it. It may be true that this business was susceptible of division and that there was no apparent imperious necessity for concentrating all of it on the lot in question. But the extent of its business, and the manner of conducting it, were matters to be determined by the company, with a view to its own convenience and profit. If, in fact, these structures constituted a manufacturing plant, owned and managed by the Keystone Oil Co., as a whole, and the inclosed ground on which they were
If the record of the judgment shows the extent of its lien, an auditor appointed to distribute a fund cannot disregard it. A mechanic’s lien claim is, before judgment, “ open to impeachment by all having an interest in its validity as owner, purchaser or lien creditor,” but afterwards it is subject to the well settled rule “ that a judgment, though irregular on its face, and even illegally recovered, cannot be impeached collaterally by third persons, though lien creditors of the defendant, except for fraud or collusion : ” Lauman’s Ap., 8 Pa. 473.
Whether § 9 of the act of 1836 applies to the case of a judgment on a mechanic’s lien, in which the claimant has designated the curtilage with the knowledge and acquiescence of the owner and lien creditors, is a question we are not required to consider, because no proceedings have been instituted which raise it. When the auditor was appointed there was no suggestion that any dispute would arise before him touching the right of the mechanic’s lien creditors to be first paid from the proceeds of the sale of the property against which their claims were filed, and no application has been made to the court for the appoint
We think the learned auditor was right in holding that he was not authorized by his appointment to ascertain the curtilage of the oil refinery. This conclusion is the logical result of the cases relating to the powers of auditors, when considered in connection with the provisions of the act of 1836, and the decisions of this court in Lauman’s Ap., supra : Armstrong v. Hallowell, 35 Pa 485; Shryock v. Buckman, 121 Pa. 248, and Harbach v. Kurth, 131 Pa. 177.
The specifications of error are overruled, and the decree is affirmed and appeal dismissed at the costs of the appellant.
Manufacturers’ Gas Company’s Appeal.
Opinion by
May 9,1892:
This appeal is from the same decree as the appeal of the Imperial Refining Company, Limited, decided at this term, and for the reasons given in the opinion filed in that case, the specifications of error are overruled.
Decree affirmed and appeal dismissed at the costs of the appellant.
Oil City Sayings Bank’s Appeal.
Opinion by
May 9,1892:
This appeal involves the same questions raised on the appeal of the Imperial Refining Company, Limited, decided at this term, and is from the same decree. The specifications of error are overruled for the reasons given in the opinion filed in that case.
Decree affirmed and appeal dismissed at the costs of the appellant.