Quasi-contract – Materialman’s Lien for Unrequested Expenditures in the Preservation of Another’s Property

Plaintiffs were employed to make improvements on defendant’s building. While the work was in progress the roof was partially destroyed by £ire through no fault of plaintiffs. Necessary repairs were made without the express consent of the defendant, who was in Europe and who had left no one in charge of the building to act for him. The trial court entered judgment foreclosing a materialman’s lien given by statute to “any person who shall, under oral or written contract with the owner of any tract or piece of land, perform labor or furnish material for the . . . repair of any building . . . thereon.” On appeal, held, affirmed. Plaintiffs can foreclose a materialman’s lien based upon a quasi-contractual claim for labor and materials furnished without request when such labor and materials were necessary for the preservation of the defendant’s property. Berry v. Barbour, (Okla. 1954) 279 P. (2d) 335.