Case Title: BancBoston Mortg. Corp. v. Gobble-Fite Lumber Co.

Citation: 567 So. 2d 1337

Docket Number: 

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1990-09-14T00:00:00Z

Document:
567 So. 2d 1337 (1990)
BANCBOSTON MORTGAGE CORPORATION, f/k/a Mortgage Corporation of the South
v.
GOBBLE-FITE LUMBER COMPANY, INC.
89-790.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
September 14, 1990.
Alicia J. Putt of Smyer, White & Putt, Birmingham, for appellant.
Robert H. Harris of Harris, Caddell & Shanks, Decatur, for appellee.
SHORES, Justice.
This case involves a materialman's lien claim. The central issue is the effect of a *1338 non-judicial mortgage foreclosure on a subsequent mechanic's or materialman's lien.
This Court thoroughly addressed this exact issue in Bailey Mortgage Co. v. Gobble-Fite Lumber Co., Inc., 565 So. 2d 138 (Ala.1990) (application for rehearing overruled, August 3, 1990). Bailey Mortgage Co. involved a default judgment taken against a mortgage company by the same company involved in this case and the question of the priority to be given a materialman's lien as against the mortgage holder that had initiated a foreclosure. This Court held in Bailey "that the holder of a prior mortgage that is superior to a mechanic's or materialman's lien, who forecloses and purchases the property at the foreclosure sale does not lose its priority." Id. Our reasoning in Bailey was:
Id. Our conclusions as to the facts of the Bailey case can be summarized as follows:
Id.
In the case before us, BancBoston's mortgage was on record at the time the materials were furnished by Gobble-Fite to Southwestin Corporation (a former mortgagor). Gobble-Fite properly perfected its lien. However, under our holding in Bailey, Gobble-Fite's materialman's lien is junior to the construction lender's mortgage. Because the facts in the present case are indistinguishable from those in Bailey, we must reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand the case for a judgment consistent with this holding.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
HORNSBY, C.J., and JONES, HOUSTON and KENNEDY, JJ., concur.