Court Opinion

ID: 9684625
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 14:04:56.124813+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:58.001169
License: Public Domain

LESTER, Judge,
concurring.
My colleagues have reached the correct conclusion in this appeal, but I believe the central issue requires some comments.
In this litigation, as well as Kinser Sheet Metal, Inc. v. Morse, et ux., Ky.App., 566 S.W.2d 179 (1978), the appellate courts were requested to interpret the 1974 enactment of KRS 376.010 and more particularly whether the owners of a single or double family dwelling should be required to pay subcontractors when they have already paid the contractor for those services and the latter has defaulted in his obligations.
For some undisclosed reason, the General Assembly, unwittingly, created classifications between property owners when it legislated in KRS 376.010(4):
No person who has contracted directly with the owner-occupant or his authorized agent shall acquire a lien under this section on an owner-occupied single or double family dwelling or the appurtenances or additions thereto unless he notifies in writing the owner-occupant of the property to be held liable or his authorized agent not more than ten (10) days after the first item of material or labor is furnished, of the delivery of the material or performance of labor and of his intention to hold the property liable and the amount for which he will claim a lien.
Our decisions have been to the effect that unless the owner actually occupies the dwelling where the goods or services are furnished, then the benefits of the statute are unavailable to him and he can be required to make double payment when his contractor defaults after payment by the owner. This places the party building a new home that is uninhabitable in a position of having to follow up his contractor and determine from each laborer or supplier (if he is aware of their identity) if his contractor has satisfied the obligations. On the other hand, the owner who lives in the structure is absolved from the potential double costs unless he receives a notification of default within ten days. I do not perceive this distinction to have been the real intent of the legislature, for it appears to me that the object was to provide the individuals building a residence the protection of notification of default in a relatively short time so he can take the appropriate action to avoid the lien.
I believe it unfortunate that the legislative body did not delete the word “occupant” or insert “or” between “owner” and “occupant”, for that appears to have been the intention or else why restrict it to residential type structures.
I admit that the supply houses for the building industry would have a slight burden placed upon them, in that they would have to determine the name and address of the owners and the type of construction to which they were furnishing materials. This obligation is insignificant compared to the safeguard that would be afforded the owner, in that the materialmen would be much more likely to learn the business practices and financial reliability of the contractors with whom they dealt. For that matter, the supply houses are in a much better *433position to have that knowledge or are in a better position to so determine than the owner who may build a new home but once in a lifetime.
As I have indicated above, the result reached in this and the Kinser Sheet Metal case is the only one possible under the statute as written, but it certainly thwarts the beneficial purposes which I believe the General Assembly intended.