The Law That Vanished Overnight

A case of great interest to loggers and mill men was recently rendered by Judge Bellinger in the suit of M. J. Nordrum and others against J. W. Perkins and the Port Blakeley Mill Company. The question was raised on the construction of the logger's lien law, a matter on which no decision had been made by the Supreme Court. Plaintiffs had been employed by Perkins to get out saw logs. About $3,000 worth were cut and sold to the Port Blakeley Mill Company without releasing the liens, as was the usual custom. Perkins failed to pay the employees, who brought suit to foreclose liens amounting to $816. Subsequently, the legislature passed the logger's lien law of 1893. Attorneys for the mill company argued that the new law superseded the old one, and because the plaintiffs had not reduced their claims to judgment before the repeal, their rights were lost. Judge Bellinger held that both objections were sustained by the weight of authority, and that the old law being swept away by the new, all claims of lien not reduced to judgment were also swept away. The common law right to sue for wages alone remained. Judge Bellinger noted, 'I regret that I have to hold that the legislature, which intended to make a more perfect law, should have omitted to make any provision for existing claims.' An appeal to the supreme court is expected.