Opinion ID: 1269312
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Claim of Padding of Account.

Text: Another ground of invalidity of the liens asserted by Paget is that in each instance the amount claimed in the notice of lien is purely fictitious. The statute gives a lien to any person    furnishing any material to be used in the construction of any improvement    for the    material furnished    ORS 87.010, and provides that a person claiming the benefit of that section shall file for recording with the recording officer of the county in which the improvement    is situated, a claim containing a true statement of his demand, after deducting all just credits and offsets. ORS 87.035. The evidence shows that all material ordered by Lindquist from Drake was delivered by Drake to the property on which it was to be used, but that some material ordered for one house was used by the contractor in the construction of the other, and that in addition, possibly, a very little of it, as Lindquist testified, was used in a third house, which was also under construction. The amount claimed in each of the lien notices was, as stated, $1554.11, and was arrived at in the following manner, according to the witness Bennett, credit manager for Drake: As evidenced by the prices charged in the load tickets which were issued with each delivery of material the total price for material delivered to No. 4506 N.E. 40th Street was $1679.28; that for material delivered to No. 4516 N.E. 40th Street was $1453.44. The price charged for material furnished for use in building the third house above mentioned was $1531.11. The total of these three sums, to wit, $4663.83, was divided by three and the resulting quotient, $1554.61, was taken as the amount properly chargeable against each property and the amount set up in the lien claims. Vouchers for such amounts drawn on Paget by Lindquist were delivered to Drake. The uncontradicted evidence is that the prices charged in the load tickets were reasonable. Bennett, who qualified as an expert witness on the subject, testified that he made an inspection of the two houses after they were completed, from which he determined that material of the kind and character furnished by Drake and actually used in No. 4506 was of the reasonable value of $1429.10 and in No. 4516 was $1545.60. The total of the prices charged in the load tickets for material furnished by Drake for both houses involved is $3132.72, or $24.50 in excess of the sum of the amounts claimed in both lien notices. The houses are substantially of the same size, though house No. 4516 is somewhat larger than house No. 4506. The third house mentioned is of comparable size to the other two. As testified to by Bennett, the reasonable value of the material furnished by Drake that went into house No. 4516 is $125.01 less than the amount of the lien, and the reasonable value of the material which went into house No. 4506 is $8.51 less than the amount of the lien. The total of the prices indicated in the load tickets for material delivered to house No. 4506 is $125.17 in excess of the claim, and the total of such price for material delivered to house No. 4516 is $100.67 less than the claim. No attempt was made by Paget to dispute Bennett's estimate of the quantity and value of materials furnished by Drake and which were actually used in the houses involved, nor to question the reasonableness of the prices shown on the load tickets. Apart from the discrepancies in the amounts of the liens and the figures above stated Paget relies on the following facts: First, it is asserted that the claim is greatly in excess of the contract price of $1286.94 guaranteed as the top price for materials in any one house in the memorandum initialed by Mr. Drake to which we have referred. But in our opinion this memorandum did not amount to a contract; it bound Lindquist to nothing and was a mere offer which was never accepted by him, for, as the record discloses, Lindquist felt free to buy material from other materialmen than Drake and did so. It is shown without contradiction that, due to war conditions, costs had mounted between the time of the signing of this memorandum and the furnishing of the materials, and that the prices charged were reasonable. Next Paget points to a sworn bill of particulars filed by Drake in the case relating to house No. 4506 and which showed a total charge of $1471.30 for material furnished to be used in that house, or approximately $83.00 less than the amount of the lien. 5. The rule governing the question thus presented is that where the claimant has intentionally or through culpable negligence overstated the amount due him such overstatement will render the whole lien void, but a mere mistake in the statement will not necessarily render the whole lien void when it is evident that no fraud is intended, and where it has not misled the defendant owner to his prejudice in making his defense. Bartels v. McCullough, 102 Or 66, 70, 201 P 733, and cases cited. See, also, Northwest Lbr. & Fuel Co. v. Plantz, 126 Or 69, 73, 227 P 1116, 268 P 763; Davis v. Bertschinger, 116 Or 127, 133, 241 P 53; Cooper Mfg. Co. v. Delahunt, 36 Or 402, 407, 51 P 649, 60 P 1 (1898). As an example of an overstatement which will void the lien see West v. Wilson, 136 Or 262, 266, 297 P 847, where this court held that a claim in a notice of lien for $1826.00, when the greatest amount plaintiff would be entitled to according to his contract after deducting an admitted credit, would be $820.00, was not a mistake but an intentional overstatement. 6, 7. The evidence does not convince us that Drake either intentionally or through culpable negligence overstated its claims. The difficulty which is encountered in arriving at a strictly accurate statement was not of its own making, but arose from the use by the contractor in one house of material furnished for use in another. This Drake could hardly have prevented for it cannot be expected that a materialman would be obliged to watch the progress of a structure, to see that every stick of material so supplied by him was used therein. Fitch v. Howitt, 32 Or 396, 409, 52 P 192. Ordinarily, as the cited case holds, the burden is on the defendant to show that material delivered for construction of a building was not used therein. See, also, Northwest Lbr. & Fuel Co. v. Plantz, supra; West Side Lumber & Shingle Co. v. Herald, 64 Or 210, 216, 128 P 1006. In the instant cases, however, plaintiff's own proof showed that to some extent material intended for use in one house was used in the other, and, possibly, a small quantity in a third house. In this situation it would seem to be incumbent upon the plaintiff to go forward and establish as best it may the quantity and value of the material furnished which was actually used in the particular improvement. This the plaintiff undertook to do, and the evidence it produced stands uncontradicted and is not unreasonable, either inherently or in respect to the other evidence in the case. We think that the just and equitable conclusion is that the amounts to be allowed should be based on the estimates of the witness Bennett, to wit, $1429.10 for house No. 4506 and $1545.60 for house No. 4516. The discrepancy between these amounts and the amount of the demands in the lien notices is not so great as to lead to an inference either of dishonesty or negligence, or to warrant a court in declaring the liens void in their entirety.