Case Name: CLARK CERTIFIED CONCRETE CO., INC., Use of Meyerhoff v. LINDBERG et al.
Court: Court of Appeals of Maryland
Jurisdiction: Maryland
Decision Date: 1958-05-19
Citations: 216 Md. 576
Docket Number: No. 211
Parties: CLARK CERTIFIED CONCRETE CO., INC., Use of Meyerhoff v. LINDBERG et al.
Judges: 
Reporter: Maryland Reports
Volume: 216
Pages: 576–589

Head Matter:
CLARK CERTIFIED CONCRETE CO., INC., Use of Meyerhoff v. LINDBERG et al.
[No. 211,
September Term, 1957.]
(Two Appeals In One Record)
Decided May 19, 1958.
The cause was argued before Henderson, Hammond, Prescott and Horney, JJ., and Gray, Jr., Chief Judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, specially assigned.
August Devene and Bdward D. Putzel, for appellants.
DcRoy B. Gending, with whom were Julius A. Victor, Jr., and Walter S. Calwell on the brief, for appellees.

Opinion:
Henderson, J.,
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This appeal is from decrees of an equity court dismissing bills of complaint filed by the appellants for the sale of houses owned by Walter W. Lindberg and wife, and Rosalie Hokemeyer, respectively known as 1243 and 1245 Neighbors Avenue, to enforce mechanics' liens against each property in the total amount of $5,798.93. The two cases were heard together and present the same questions for decision.
It was stipulated that Brook Homes, Inc., acquired a tract of land for development purposes by various conveyances between January 26 and August 13, 1951, consisting of 92 lots out of a total of 119 shown on a recorded plat. It proceeded to erect houses on these lots in groups of six or seven. Construction began in January, 1951, and continued until a re ceiver was appointed for Brook Homes, Inc., on August 28, 1953, at which time some of the houses were still uncompleted. The houses with which we are now concerned were substantially completed by June 16, 1952, and were used as sample houses by the developer. They were sold by the developer on June 16, 1953. The lien claims were filed on August 5, 1953, and were for ready mixed concrete supplied to the developer between August 1, 1952 and April 8, 1953. None of this concrete went into the houses in question.
Mr. William M. Duncan, Jr., a salesman for Clark Certified Concrete Company, Inc. (Clark), testified that he discussed with Mr. Schoppert, who was in charge of buying materials for Brook Homes, Inc. (Brook), the matter of supplying concrete for the new development. This conversation took place before any of the work began. Schoppert asked if Clark would be able to supply concrete for the job and Duncan said it would. There was no signed contract to supply all of the concrete necessary for the development, but it was understood that Schoppert would "give us at least a day's notice, and he would tell us how many yards for that particular day, and we would deliver it." The price was to be "the prevailing price at the time of delivery on that particular day he would pay what the yardage price would be." Pursuant to the understanding, concrete was regularly delivered as ordered, in each month and on 134 different days between February 28, 1951, and April 8, 1953, a total of 1883 cubic yards of concrete at a total price of $20,720.38, as shown by invoices produced. The account was paid up to and including the concrete delivered on July 29, 1952, the total amount paid being $14,921.95.
The appellees contend that the liens were not filed in time. The Mechanics' Lien Law, Code (1957), Art. 63, sec. 1, pn> vides that "Every building erected shall be subject to a lien for the payment of all debts contracted for materials furnished for or about the same Sec. 23 provides that "Every such debt shall be a lien until after the expiration of six months after the work has been finished or the materials furnished, although no claim has been filed therefor, but no longer, unless a claim shall be filed at or before the expiration of that period." We have held that the clause as to "work" refers to a labor claim. A material claim must be filed within six months from- the time the materials are furnished. Harrison v. Stouffer, 193 Md. 46, 50; Heath v. Tyler, 44 Md. 312, 318; Trustees of German Lutheran Church v. Heise, 44 Md. 453, 475. In the instant case the claims were filed within six months from the date of the last delivery, April 8, 1953. It seems clear that an express antecedent contract is not a prerequisite. Where there are continuous deliveries at a "going price", pursuant to an undertaking to supply materials as needed, a lien may be filed within six months from the delivery of the last item, provided sxtch delivery is made in good faith and not as a subterfuge to toll the statute. T. Dan Kolker, Inc. v. Shure, 209 Md. 290; District Hgts. Apts. v. Noland Co., 202 Md. 43; Humphrey v. Harrison Bros. (4th Cir.), 196 F. 2d 630.
The appellees contend that because it was shown that none of the materials for which the liens are claimed went into the houses against which the liens were filed, the liens were unenforceable. It is generally held that delivery of material to the site of building operations is enough to establish a lien, even though none of the materials are actually incorporated into the building, but the cases are not in accord as to whether such proof is conclusive, or merely establishes a rebuttable presumption. See note in 39 A. L. R. 2d 394. That the fact of incorporation is immaterial was flatly stated in Greenway v. Turner, 4 Md. 296 and Watts v. Whittington, 48 Md. 353, although probably the statement was unnecessary for the decisions in those cases. In Wilson v. Wilson, 51 Md. 159, while the Court found there was a failure to prove the use. of materials in one of the four houses sought to be charged, the holding was that the lien failed because of a release by the claimant, which had the effect of releasing all of the houses from the lien. To the same effect, see Nickel v. Blanch, 67 Md. 456, and Brick Co. v. Dimkerly, 85 Md. 199. In Maryland Brick Co. v. Spilman, 76 Md. 337, it was held that where there was an entire contract to deliver bricks for the construction of 47 houses, it was not incumbent upon the claimant to show that the bricks were actually used in the construction of the particular buildings against which the lien was filed. The statement in the Greenway and Watts cases, supra, was quoted with approval. The Wilson and Nickel cases were distinguished as dealing with the effect of a release. But it is not entirely clear from this decision whether the Court meant that the owner would be precluded from showing that none of the materials went into the particular buildings. The Court observed that it would be "unreasonable to require the person who furnishes materials to ascertain how much of the material is placed in each house ". This same statement was repeated in Fulton v. Parlett, 104 Md. 62, 64, where it was also said that there was no duty to apportion the claim where more than one structure is built. In Caltrider v. Isberg, 148 Md. 657, it was held by a divided court that where the owner paid the builder for all the materials going into one of the two houses under construction, this did not amount to an apportionment or prevent the enforcement of the lien against both houses.
In Humphrey v. Harrison Bros., supra (p. 633), the facts were that a lien claim was based upon an agreement to furnish plumbing and heating supplies for 135 houses, at a flat rate per house. It was shown that payment had been made for substantially all of the materials installed in the 29 houses against which the lien was filed. Judge Soper, for the Court, applying the Maryland law, sustained the lien, and said that it was "not essential to the validity of the lien claim that the furnisher show in what houses specific materials were used, or indeed that the materials were actually used upon the •project if they were purchased for and delivered to the site of the work." .The statement was quoted with approval in District Hgts. Apts v. Noland Co., supra (p. 48). We also stated (p. 49) that when "there is no testimony tending to raise a suspicion that the materials were not used in the building, it is reasonable to conclude that the materials did in fact go into the building, especially where it is shown that some of the materials have been used in the construction", but this was in connection with a claim that the materials were not delivered at all, but diverted to another site. 'We conclude that the liens in the instant cases were valid even though it was shown that none of the materials for which the liens are claimed went into the particular houses against which the liens were filed, where it was shown that the materials were used in the construction of other houses in the development, at a time when the particular houses were owned by the developer.
The appellees contend that the fact that the particular houses were sold before the liens were filed renders the liens unenforceable. The Chancellor remarked that the construction of houses in a development may extend over a period of years and that "the purchaser of a dwelling today might find that a company furnishing materials five years after the conveyance had claimed a lien on his property for materials furnished in some remote section of the development in which his property is located", and that this would "inevitably result in hardship and injustice". It may well be that a lien claim, based on materials delivered to the site after particular houses have been conveyed away, will not lie against those houses. In Ortwine v. Caskey, 43 Md. 134, it was held that where some of the houses were finished and sold, and materials were thereafter delivered for use in and about the unfinished houses, the later deliveries did not save the lien. Cf. Heath v. Tyler, supra. It was also held that the claim failed because before the sale the claimant and builder treated the account as closed by apportioning the entire account among the several houses, and the claimant accepted payment of the amount so apportioned to the houses against which the lien was' subsequently filed. In the instant case the materials for which the lien is claimed were delivered to the site before the conveyances, although the lien was not filed until after the conveyances. The factual situation falls into the pattern of the Caltrider case, supra, rather than the Ortwine case.
It seems clear under our decisions that the mere fact of conveyance does not divest the statutory lien for materials delivered prior thereto. See Miller v. Barroll, 14 Md. 173 (cited in the Ortwine case) ; Caltrider v. Isberg, supra; cf. Moreland v. Meade, 162 Md. 95, 103. See also Phillips on Mechanics' Liens (3d ed.), sec. 227 and 36 Am. Jur., sec. 190, p. 127. Of course, the proceeding is in rem, Gaybis v. Palm, 201 Md. 78, 83, and% the statute declares that the lien attaches from the time of the delivery of the materials, subject to the claim being filed within six months from the date of the last delivery in a running account, at least in the case of contract or undertaking that is indivisible and made in good faith. It would seem that a purchaser is charged with constructive notice of the lien. Code (1957) Art. 63, sec. 32, calls for construction of the law as remedial in nature, and we have frequently stated that it should be construed liberally in favor of a claimant. Johnson v. Metcalfe, 209 Md. 537, 543. If the law ought to be changed so as to protect purchasers from claims for deliveries to other houses in a development prior to the conveyance, it should be done by the legislature and not by judicial fiat.
Decrees reversed and case remanded, costs to be paid by the appellees.