Case Name: SPRINKLER FITTERS AND APPRENTICES LOCAL UNION NO. 821, U.A., a labor organization, Roy Citty, Jr., Dale Cress, Ricky Diaz, Steve Gilnet, Burton Mears, Hershall Mears, Phil Neiendam, V.O. Orr, Jerry Patterson, Billy H. Rayburn, David Ziroff, National Automatic Sprinkler Industry Welfare Fund, National Automatic Sprinkler Industry Pension Fund, and U.A. Local 821 Joint Apprenticeship Training Program Fund of the State of Florida, Appellants, v. F.I.T.R. SERVICE CORPORATION, f/k/a Frank H. Inscho & Associates, Inc., a dissolved Florida corporation, and Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland, a foreign corporation, Appellees
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1984-11-27
Citations: 461 So. 2d 144
Docket Number: No. 83-1595
Parties: SPRINKLER FITTERS AND APPRENTICES LOCAL UNION NO. 821, U.A., a labor organization, Roy Citty, Jr., Dale Cress, Ricky Diaz, Steve Gilnet, Burton Mears, Hershall Mears, Phil Neiendam, V.O. Orr, Jerry Patterson, Billy H. Rayburn, David Ziroff, National Automatic Sprinkler Industry Welfare Fund, National Automatic Sprinkler Industry Pension Fund, and U.A. Local 821 Joint Apprenticeship Training Program Fund of the State of Florida, Appellants, v. F.I.T.R. SERVICE CORPORATION, f/k/a Frank H. Inscho & Associates, Inc., a dissolved Florida corporation, and Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland, a foreign corporation, Appellees.
Judges: Before HENDRY, BARKDULL and DANIEL S. PEARSON, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 461
Pages: 144–152

Head Matter:
SPRINKLER FITTERS AND APPRENTICES LOCAL UNION NO. 821, U.A., a labor organization, Roy Citty, Jr., Dale Cress, Ricky Diaz, Steve Gilnet, Burton Mears, Hershall Mears, Phil Neiendam, V.O. Orr, Jerry Patterson, Billy H. Rayburn, David Ziroff, National Automatic Sprinkler Industry Welfare Fund, National Automatic Sprinkler Industry Pension Fund, and U.A. Local 821 Joint Apprenticeship Training Program Fund of the State of Florida, Appellants, v. F.I.T.R. SERVICE CORPORATION, f/k/a Frank H. Inscho & Associates, Inc., a dissolved Florida corporation, and Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland, a foreign corporation, Appellees.
No. 83-1595.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
Nov. 27, 1984.
Rehearing Denied Jan. 22, 1985.
Joseph C. Segor, Kaplan, Sicking, Hes-sen, Sugarman, Rosenthal & De Castro, Miami, for appellants.
Paul, Landy, Beiley & Harper and Stanley A. Beiley and David S. Garbett, Miami, for appellees.
Before HENDRY, BARKDULL and DANIEL S. PEARSON, JJ.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
The appellants, the plaintiffs below, sued the appellees to enforce their claims of lien and other union-related benefits. The trial court dismissed the suit with prejudice, and the appellants took this appeal. We affirm the order of dismissal, solely because we conclude that the labor performed by the appellants on the Quayside project was not performed under a "properly authorized contract" as is statutorily required and that, therefore, the appellants were not entitled to place a lien on the property.
The statutory definition of a "laborer" is that the "laborer" must perform labor under a "properly authorized contract." § 713.01(9), Fla.Stat. (1981). The Mechanics' Lien Law does not define the phrase "properly authorized contract." Section 713.01(1), Florida Statutes (1981), however, defines the term "contract" as "an agreement for improving real property, written or unwritten, express or implied, and includes extras or change orders as herein defined." The complaint does not allege that the individual plaintiffs, employees of a sub-subcontractor, Omni Fire Protection Corporation, entered into a contract for the improvement of real property at Quayside. Instead, the complaint alleges the existence of two other contracts: first, a contract between Inscho, another subcontractor, and Omni by which Inscho subcontracted thé installation of fire sprinklers to Omni; and second, a collective bargaining agreement entered into by the union, to which agreement Omni allegedly became bound.
Neither of these two contracts comes within the statutory definition of "contract" under Section 713.01(1), nor can they be the "properly authorized contract" referred to in Section 713.01(9), Florida Statutes (1981). A "properly authorized contract" is one directly between the individual or entity claiming to be a "laborer" and either the owner, general contractor, subcontractor, sub-subcontractor or materi-alman on the project.
Section 713.06(1), Florida Statutes (1981), provides in part:
"A materialman or laborer, either of whom is not in privity with the owner, or a subcontractor or sub-subcontractor who complies with the provisions of part 1 and is subject to the limitations thereof, shall have a lien on the real property improved for any money that is owed to him for labor, services, or materials furnished in accordance with his contract and with the direct contract."
Section 713.06(1) grants to a laborer the right to place a lien on real property improved as a result of labor furnished in accordance with "his contract" and the "direct contract" permits the owner to make proper payments directly to laborers for labor "performed by them and covered by the direct contract_" The language evinces the legislative intent of requiring a specific contractual relationship between laborers and a lienor on the project.
Neither of the contracts alleged in the complaint is a "properly authorized contract" under Section 713.01(9). The contract between Inscho and Omni is not a "properly authorized contract" because none of the employees of Omni are a party thereto. The collective bargaining agreement, which sets forth conditions for employment of union members, is not a "properly authorized contract" because it is not "an agreement for improving real property" within Section 713.01(1). See, e.g., Acadia Development Corp. v. Rinker Materials Corp., 419 So.2d 1142 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982); E.V. Construction Co. v. Newman, 418 So.2d 291 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982).
The Legislature has recently instructed us in 1977 that the Mechanics' Lien Law is to be strictly construed and not to be given a liberal construction as in the past. See Section 713.37, Florida Statutes (1983), which reads as follows:
"Rule of construction — This part shall not be subject to a rule of liberal construction in favor of any person to whom it applies."
The union contract the individual laborers claim under was not entered into in contemplation of work at Quayside. Quayside was not a party to this agreement, nor is there any indication that they were ever aware of its existence. For all we know from this record, this union agreement could have been entered into months before the work commenced on Quayside or much later. Such an agreement, as aforesaid, was certainly not one directly contributing to the improvement of Quayside.
Accordingly, the order under review is affirmed in all respects.
Affirmed.