delivered the opinion of the Court.
This in an insolvent proceeding instituted in the chancery court of Knox county to wind up the affairs of the Oliver Sollitt Company, a foreign corporation doing business in Tennessee. The general course of the litiga
The claim to priority of satisfaction was based upon a bill which-' the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company filed in the chancery court of Knox сounty on the 30th day of October, 1907, against the Southern Railway Company and the Oliver Sollitt Company, • where it was sought to attach certain funds alleged, to be due the latter from the former. The Oliver Sollitt Company had a contract with the Southern Railway Company to build certain structures on its grounds at Knoxville. At the time of the filing of the attachment proceedings the railway company, as subsequent accounting showed, was indebted to the Oliver Sollitt Company in a sum much more than sufficient to satisfy the demand sued on. On November 4, 1907, the general creditors’ bill was filed, and a reсeiver appointed. Thereafter the bill
It is insisted in behalf of the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company that, when its attachment was levied, the Oliver Sollitt Company Avas a going concern. This is denied. by the objecting creditors. They insist that prior to the filing of the bill of the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company there had been an overt act of insolvency on the part of the corporation, indicating such an assured' insolvency as comnrted the assets of the corporation into a trust fund for the benefit of all creditors within our authorities uрon that subject, viz.: Memphis Barrel, etc., Co. v. Ward,
There are several tests indicated in these cases for the purpose of fixing the period, or point of time, when the assets of the corporation are converted into a trust fund for creditors. One of these tests is that it has permanently ceased to do business, or to exercise its franchises.
It is said that this was a foreign corporation, and that the evidence shows that it had other contracts at Mobile and Birmingham, Ala., and perhaps in other States, and that we cannot know what assets there may be in other States. It is sufficient to say that it is not the duty of the court to inquire into this matter. We must deal with the foreign corporation as we find it here. Smith v. St. Louis M. L. Ins. Co., supra; Leipold v. Marony, supra.
We think there was no error in the decree of the chancellor upon this branch of the case.
The second demand presented by the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company .is for $18,831.70, alleged to be the price of a bill of lumber furnished to the Oliver Sollitt Company for use in the construction of the new machine shop, referred to supra as “Contract Ho. 1.” There was a bill filed by the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company on the 31st of October, 1907, in which it was alleged that this sum was a lien upon the property, rights, franchises, rоadbed, etc., of the railway company and seeking to enforce said lien. An attachment by garnishment was also levied upon the indebtedness alleged to be due from the Southern Railway Company to the Oliver Sollitt Company to further secure the amount claimed. This suit was likewise consolidated with the insolvency proceeding, and1 a report made upon this claim by the master. He reported it as a lien both upon the road and the fund, the latter by virtue of the at
The ineffectiveness of the attachment on the fund is fully shown by what we have said upon the first demand filed by the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company. Wé need add nothing to what is there said. Moreover, in the view we take of the case, it is unnecessary to refer to any other of the objections made, except that pertaining to the date on which the last item on the bill was furnished.
The solution of this matter depends upon the following facts which are proven on the record; that is to say: The last item of the bill, as originally or-dlered and contracted for by the Oliver Sollitt Company, was furnished by the Chicago Lumber & Coal Cоmpany on the 5th day of March, 1907. However, after the material was in, the inspector of the Southern Railway Company having oversight of the construction objected to sixty-five pieces “designed for us in the construction of the roof of the machine shop,” because in Ms judgment they were defective, and thereupon the Oliver Sollitt Company notified the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company of the fact, and ord'ered other pieces of the same kind to take the place of the alleged defective pieces. The Chicago Lumber & Coаl Company replied to the effect that the pieces it had formerly sent were such as had been ordered of it by the Oliver Sol-litt Company, and therefore it would not remit any of the price charged therefor, but that it would send fifty-eight new pieces, for which it would also charge. It accordingly delivered the fifty-eight new pieces on June 14, 1907. It does not appear, however, that either the old or the new pieces — that is, those rejected! and those’ sent in place of them — are sued for as such, but only the' bill is furnished; the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company claiming that the new material, under the facts stated;.
It is insisted on behalf of the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company that the fifty-eight pieces so delivered on •June 14, 1907, should be treated as the last shipment under the original contract, and that the ninety days •allowed by the statute for fixing the lien by notice would begin to run from that date for the whole biil. The оbjecting creditors deny this, and insist that the fifty-eight pieces must be treated as having been delivered under a new and distinct contract, and that such was the fact; that the last delivery made under the original contract between the Oliver Sollitt Company and the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company was made on the 5th day of March, 1907.. The chancellor decreed! in accordance with the contention of the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company, and the objecting creditors appealed to this court and assigned errors on the decree.
We are of thе opinion that the chancellor was in error. When the last item of the original bill was delivered upon the ground by the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company, its right to fix its lien for the bill began, whether it was ever used or not. Powder Co. v. Knoxvile, L. & J. R. Co.,
The case is different whеre by oversight the furnisher has omitted to ship a part of the bill contracted for; also where under the contract the goods are to be shipped from time to time as needed or ordered out. In botli of these cases the goods subsequently arriving are in fact a part of the original contract. In the class of cases included in this paragraph, the time fixed by the statute with which to acquire the lien would begin to run with the date of the last item delivered.
The authorities sustain the conclusion we have reached.
In Eochell on Mechanics’ Liens, it is said:
“If the contract provides for the exchange of material, and no one is misled, the lien will be in time, if within the timе limit from the delivery of the articles, in exchange; but, if the material is exchanged to supply the place of defective or broken material before furnished, this does not change the time of filing to the date of delivery of the exchanged article.” Section 94, p. 242, citing R. J. Schwab & Sons Co. v. Frieze,107 Mo. App., 553 ,81 S. W., 1174 , and Brown & Haywood Co. v. Trane,98 Wis., 1 ,73 N. W., 561 . The cases cited sustain the text.
It is insisted for the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company that they do not.
We think this is a clear holding to the effect that, where a new part is furnished to take the place of a defective part, the time for filing the lien for the original bill will not he extended thereby, so as to date the beginning of the time for acquiring the lien to the time of furnishing the new or substituted article.
In Brown & Haywood Co. v. Trane,
The case of Kennebec Framing Co. v. Pickering,
Applying this last case, it was said thаt the last glass actually used in the building which the court had under
This case is somewhat impaired as an authority in this State by reason of what is said by the court upon the subject of not using the materials, since the rule in this State is that, other things being equal, the delivery of the material upon the ground for use is sufficient. However, the case is an authority for the proposition that the furnishing of other material to take.the place of defective material will not extend the time fоr filing a lien for the original bill.
The subject is pretty fully illustrated in the case of Marrison v. Homepathic Ass’n. supra. In the opinion of the court referring to a previous report of the case in
The principles stated in Harrison v. Homeopathic Ass’n, and in the other cases referred to, are in harmony with the illustrations appearing in the opinion of this court in
This last case falls within the principle of McKelvey v. Jarvis, supra, and within the distinction noted and illustrated by Clarke, J., in Homeopathic Ass’n v. Harrison,
It is insisted for the claimant that it is entitled, to enforce its lien under the general mechanic’s lien law (Shannon’s Oode, section 3531 et seq.), and that inasmuch as its bill was filed immediately upon the completion of the building, and contained a sufficient statement of the claim, its right was perfected under the sections of the Code last referred to. In behаlf of the objecting creditors it is insisted that these sections of the Code do not apply to a claim for work done or materials furnished for the construction of a building upon the line of a railway company for use in its business, but only section 3570 et seq. of Shannon’s Code, embracing the provisions of chapter 220 of the Acts of 1883, and chapter 98 of the Acts of 1891'. We are of the opinion that the latter view is the correct one. It was not intended by the legislature that a person who had constructed a depot, for instance, for the use of a railway comрany, or who aided in the construction of a
It is next insisted by the claimant that the objecting creditors do not stand in such a position that they can make the questions above made against the claim presented. We think this is a mistaken view, since the claimant is seeking to participate as a lienor in the fund to which the objecting creditors are likewise looking for payment of their claims. They have the right to protect this fund against a lien claimed against it.
It is unnecessary to consider the other points presented. On the grounds stated, we are of the opinion that the chancellor erred in allowing the second claim of the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company as a lien upon the fund paid in by the Southern Railway Company in the satisfaction of the lien upon its line of railway.
