Opinion ID: 2408083
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Claim of Oliver T. Ahal

Text: 32. Oliver T. Ahal is entitled to a general judgment against Robert W. Baebler in the amount of $5,063.28 plus interest on said amount from August 19, 1965. 33. Oliver T. Ahal is entitled to a mechanics lien against the entire tract less so-called Tract B for the amount of $4,009.34 plus interest on said amount from August 19, 1965. The trial court's judgment is also modified as to the mechanics lien against the property of Franchi to read: D. That Oliver T. Ahal . . . have and recover against Robert W. Baebler the amount of $6,253.15 . . . that if no sufficient property of said Defendant be found to satisfy these judgments and the costs of these proceedings, that said execution be levied against the real property owned by Franchi Construction Co., Inc., limited, however, in this lien to the amount of $4,009.34 plus interest on said amount from August 19, 1965. Under the lien limits set forth above, Ahal is entitled to apply this lien  against all the property of Franchi included in the total land project in question, except Tract B. (Tract B is described in the next paragraph of the judgment.) This amount of the judgment which Ahal can apply as a lien against the property of Franchi represents the amount for which judgment should have been entered by the trial court, as a lien, on July 15, 1969. This amount is the principal amount to be applied as a lien according to the findings of fact and the modified conclusions of law set out above, in the principal sum of $4,009.34, plus interest at six percent on that amount from August 19, 1965, until July 15, 1969, the date of final judgment. As this case now stands, the mechanics lien claimants have personal judgments in various amounts against Baebler. These judgments have not been appealed from and, of course, will not be disturbed. The mechanics lien claimants herein have liens against all or part of the 26-acre tract in aid of their judgments, and the judgments and decrees granting this relief are affirmed except as to the amount of the lien in favor of Ahal. As previously indicated, Ahal is not entitled to a mechanics lien for the full amount of Ahal's judgment against Baebler, and the trial court is directed to amend Part D of its judgment of July 15, 1969, so as to limit the lien decreed in favor of Ahal to the principal sum of $4,009.34 plus interest at the rate of six percent and to enter its judgment as modified as of July 15, 1969. Until now the question of priority of the mechanics liens and the four deeds of trust was open. By this decision that question is determined in favor of the lien claimants. The question of the consequences of the breach of the March 26, 1965, Agreement by Security was also an open one, but that question is also determined by this court's holding that Franchi was damaged by this breach of contract and that the relief Franchi is entitled to is the release of the instant mechanics liens from the property against which those liens attached. Franchi is not entitled to both a release of the mechanics liens and a money judgment equal to said mechanics liens. The release of those liens may be accomplished in whole or in part by methods other than the expenditure of money by Franchi. We cannot anticipate the method by which, or by whom, the mechanics liens herein involved will be satisfied and released. To the extent that Franchi is required to expend money to obtain the release of said liens, it would be entitled to be indemnified by Security, but only to that extent and no more. This holding demands that the money judgment heretofore entered in favor of Franchi and against Security be reversed and the cause remanded to the trial court for the entry of such further orders and, if necessary, judgments in this equitable proceeding consistent with the views herein expressed. Costs of this appeal are assessed fifty percent against Prudential Savings and Loan Association; twenty-five percent against Security Title Co. and twenty-five percent against Franchi Construction Co., Inc. All of the Judges concur.