MARINE BANK APPLETON, formerly known as Firstar Bank, N.A., a national institution, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. HIETPAS, INC., a Wisconsin corporation, City of Kaukauna, a municipal corporation, James R. Ellsworth, as Chairman of the Creditors Committee, L.B. Foster Company, a foreign corporation, Defendants, C. R. MEYER & SONS COMPANY, a Wisconsin corporation, Defendant-Appellant, 149 Wis. 2d 587

Summary

The general contractor started construction on October 11, 1983. The bank recorded its mortgage on July 3, 1984. The general contractor recorded its construction lien on October 31, 1984. The court accepted the general contractor's premise that the mortgage priority statute, codified at Wis. Stat. § 706.11(1), was ambiguous. However, the court rejected the general contractor's interpretation of the statute. Section 706.11(1) provided that whenever a mortgage executed to a bank had been duly recorded, it had priority over all liens upon the mortgaged premises, except tax and special assessment liens filed after the recording of such mortgage. The court concluded that the phrase "filed after the recording of such mortgage" in § 706.11(1) was intended to modify "all liens" rendering the general contractor's lien subordinate in view of the sequence in which it was filed. The bank's mortgage did not lose its priority status when it was replaced by a consolidation mortgage recorded on April ...