Court Opinion

ID: 9543296
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:44:02.977171+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:10:06.204653
License: Public Domain

BERRY, Justice
(dissenting).
I am unable to agree with the majority opinion.
It is provided in the applicable lien statute (42 O.S.19S1 § 144), that “Any person * * * who shall, under contract, * * * with the owner of any lease-hold for oil and gas purposes, * * * or with the trustee or agent of such owner, perform labor or furnish material, machinery and oil well supplies used in the digging, drilling, torpedoing, completing, operating * * * of any oil and gas well, or who shall furnish * * *, or perform any labor in constructing or putting together any of the machinery used in drilling, * * * shall have a lien upon the whole of such leasehold * * * or lease for oil and gas purposes” etc.
To my way of thinking, by force of the clear wording of Sec. 144, no charge asserted by Cornelison is lienable unless it was for labor, material, machinery or supplies used upon the lease.
It stands admitted that the drilling rig was not being used upon the lease in May, 1959, when Cornelison repaired in its shop the engine thereto, for which services it charged $2,336.00. Nor was it thereafter used upon the leasehold, therefor, when the charge of $89.24 was made for repairing the engine at the lease.
In an effort to escape the plain wording of the statute, Cornelison argues that “it was repairing the equipment which was worn out or used up due to drilling three wells on the leasehold estate. The drilling rig and its motor repaired by Cornelison was thus ‘used’ within a liberal construction of the lien laws of this State.”
The evidence fails to show that the repairs to the engine were necessary because it was “worn out or used up” on the lease. If the evidence did so show, I nevertheless, would be unable to agree with Cornelison’s line of reasoning. The statute is directed to and contemplates a using of labor, material, machinery or supplies upon the lease that are furnished by the person asserting a lien and not a prior use upon the lease of property by a person who incurred the indebtedness that forms the basis of an asserted lien. If the engine was worn out or used up on the lease, such wearing out and using up was on the part of the driller and not Cornelison.
I am of the further opinion that charges made for repairing the engine at the shop and for the fan belt are not lienable. See *608Arkansas Fuel Oil Co. v. McDowell, Okl., 119 Okl. 77, 249 P. 717.
I am convinced that the only charges which could become a lien on the lease are those for work on the engine during the time same was used on the lease, which charges aggregate $122.02.
For reasons stated, I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion.