Lazenby v. Wright

Arthur D. Wright and Marie Wright were contract purchasers of land in Detroit on which they wanted to build a dwelling. They made an agreement with one Robert A. Smith for erecting the house, and to that end assigned their vendees’ interest to him. Smith made contracts with materialmen and laborers, among them the plaintiff, who did carpenter work, and plaintiff’s assignor, Shelp, who did mason work. When the house had been “roughed in” the job was abandoned by the contractor. A number of mechanics’ liens were filed, among them that of plaintiff and of Shelp. The vendor in the land contract…