Court Opinion

ID: 3294468
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2016-07-05 17:11:17.366494+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:00:28.772877
License: Public Domain

The appellants in this action have filed a petition for rehearing, claiming that the court has misinterpreted the contracts of the lien claimants Perazzi and Decker Electrical Construction Company, as set forth in their respective claims of lien; and, further, that, under the interpretation of the contracts adopted by the court, the lien claimants were not original contractors and, therefore, their liens, not having been filed within thirty days, were invalid. Appellants also request a modification of the former opinion as to the prorating of the costs on appeal. In this latter request the respondents have joined in a separate petition, urging, however, a different basis of division of costs.
It appears from the notices of lien filed by said Perazzi and Decker Electrical Construction Company that each of said claimants alleged a contract consisting of two items; first, the performance of certain work in changing the location of the barber-shop, for which in each case a definite contract price was agreed upon; and, secondly, for the performance of certain other work, with regard to which no definite *Page 622 
price was agreed upon, but each of the claimants was to be paid the reasonable value thereof. The evidence disclosed that all of the work upon the barber-shop had been performed prior to the death of Mr. Long. The remaining work under each contract was in the process of performance at the time of Mr. Long's death. It is with reference to that work that the construction of the contracts set forth in the former opinion is applicable. There was a definite contract between each of the lien claimants and Mr. Long, as alleged in their respective claims of lien and as established by their testimony. A part of each contract was for the performance of certain work at a definite price, all of which had been performed before Mr. Long's death. The extent and nature of the balance of the work under the contracts was dependent upon instructions to be given from day to day by Mr. Long or his agent. The possibility of the continuance of such instructions from that source was terminated by the death of Mr. Long. While, therefore, the lien claimants were original contractors, we are satisfied that there were no uncompleted contracts at the time of the death of Mr. Long, in the sense that the finding of the trial court of completion on March 31, 1914, was not supported by the evidence. Being original contractors, the liens which were filed fifty-five days after the date of completion were in time.
In the former opinion it is held that two of the liens involved in these consolidated cases were valid and one was invalid. It is urged by both parties to the appeal that under such circumstances the costs of the appeal should be prorated between them. This contention is well founded and is supported by precedent in similar cases.
It is, therefore, ordered that appellants' petition for a rehearing be, and the same is hereby, denied; that the opinion heretofore filed herein be, and the same is hereby, modified by adding at the close thereof the following: "And it is further ordered that appellants recover such proportion of their costs on appeal as the amount of the lien of Henry F. Castagnino and Emanuel Castagnino, as copartners doing business under the name of Castagnino Bros., bears to the total amount of the three liens involved in the appeal; and that the respondents recover such proportion of their costs on appeal as the total amount of the two liens of H. J. Perazzi *Page 623 
and Decker Electrical Construction Company bears to the total amount of the three liens involved in the appeal."
Langdon, P. J., and Brittain, J., concurred.
A petition to have the cause heard in the supreme court, after judgment in the district court of appeal, was denied by the supreme court on June 9, 1919.
All the Justices concurred.