430.160. Enforcement of liens.

MISSOURI STATUTES AND CODES

430.160. Enforcement of liens.

Enforcement of liens.

430.160. The lien provided for in section 430.150 shall beenforced as follows: The person claiming the lien shall file incircuit court, before a circuit or associate circuit judge, inthe county in which he resides, a statement duly verified byhimself, his agent or attorney, setting forth his account and adescription of the property on which the lien is claimed, andthereupon the court shall issue a summons, as in ordinary civilactions, returnable forthwith; and upon a return of the summons,duly served, shall set the cause for hearing at any time afterthe lapse of one day. If summons be returned "defendant notfound", and if it be proved to the satisfaction of the court thatthe defendant is not a resident of the county, the court shallorder a notice of the proceedings to be published for threesuccessive days, in a daily newspaper, if one be published in thecounty, and if there be none, then once in a weekly, if such bepublished in the county; and if no paper be published in thecounty, then by six handbills put up in six public places in thecounty, notifying the defendant of the filing and the particularsof the account, the description of the property on which the lienis claimed, its whereabouts, and the day and place set for thehearing of the cause, which shall be at least ten days from theday of the last publication of the notice or the posting thereof;and the proof of such publication or of the posting of suchnotice shall be filed in the court on or before the day of trial.When the defendant shall have been summoned or notified asaforesaid, the cause shall, on the day fixed for trial, be triedas any ordinary case before an associate circuit judge or acircuit judge, as the case may be. If the judgment be for theplaintiff, the court shall order the property upon which the lienshall have been found to exist to be sold to satisfy the same.If the lien be not established, and the defendant shall not havebeen summoned, or shall not have voluntarily appeared to theaction, the cause shall be dismissed at the cost of theplaintiff. If the defendant shall have been summoned, or shallhave appeared to the action, and the plaintiff shall haveestablished an indebtedness on the account sued on, but shallhave failed to establish the lien claimed, the judgment shall befor the plaintiff for such indebtedness, but the cost of suit, orany part thereof, may be taxed against him.