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215 Mass. 369

Thomas v. Commonwealth

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1913-06-18

<p>Commonwealth. Lien, Under R. L. c. 6, § 77. Equity Jurisdiction, To enforce liens under R. L. c. 6, § 77.</p> <p>Liens against funds retained by the Commonwealth under a contract for the construction of a State highway cannot be established as for labor or materials “used in such construction” within the meaning of R. L. c. 6, § 77, upon claims for boards used for concrete forms and for conduits, upon claims for netting, cotton line, or for use of rules, road scraper or scales, for buggies used in transporting help, for money paid for freight, or for coal for the steam roller; nor can such a lien be established upon a claim for hauling stone from various stone walls in the vicinity of the highway to the crusher and for hauling cracked stone from the crusher to the road.</p>

Relies on George H. Sampson Co. v. Commonwealth · Friedman v. County of Hampden · Kennedy v. Commonwealth

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1913-06-18

How this case has been cited

Cited by 20 later decisions — most recently July 2005

5 federal appellate · 15 state decisions

701913192019301940195019601970198019902000decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Hammond, J.

¶1This case is before us upon the respective appeals of the plaintiff Thomas and the intervening creditor Green from a final decree in which certain items in the account of Thomas and the whole account of Green were disallowed.

¶2The particulars relating to the claims disallowed are set forth in the report of the master and need not be repeated. It is clear upon the report that the items for boards used for concrete forms and for conduits, for netting, cotton line, rules, road scraper, buggies used in transporting help, use of scales, freight money paid, and for coal for the steam roller, were all properly disallowed, the last under the principle enunciated in George H. Sampson Co. v. Commonwealth, 202 Mass. 326, 337, 338, and the others upon the principle of Kennedy v. Commonwealth, 182 Mass. 480.

¶3The claim of Green is entirely for teams used for “hauling stone from various stone walls in the vicinity of the highway to the crusher and for hauling cracked stone on to the road from the crusher.” We think that this claim cannot be logically distinguished from the claim for hauling lumber and sand in Webster v. Real Estate Improvement Co. 140 Mass. 526, and therefore it was properly disallowed. And so of similar items in the account of Thomas. There is nothing in Friedman v. County of Hampden, 204 Mass. 494, inconsistent with the result herein reached. Of course the items for teaming for purposes not shown in evidence were properly disallowed. Indeed we do not understand that either of the appellants contends to the contrary.

¶4 Decree affirmed.

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