Many states allow a mechanics lien to relate back to the beginning of the project for purposes of establishing priority. The hard part is determining what constitutes the beginning of the project. After much litigation, the Minnesota Supreme Court may provide some guidance on how to define “one continuous project”. Minnesota’s “Relation-Back” Doctrine Regarding Mechanics [...]
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New Texas Laws Get Strict About Lien Waivers
Last August, we wrote about a Texas 14th Division Court of Appeals decision overturning a $20m judgment in favor of Zachry Construction. That case – Port of Houston Authority v. Zachry Construction – centered on the validity and scope of a lien waiver document. The moral of the case brought me back to another article we’ve [...]
Nevada Mechanics Liens: What’s the Real Lien Deadline?
Sometimes, it seems like I am constantly discussing deadlines. There’s a good reason for that, though. The importance of monitoring and complying with the statutory deadlines cannot be overstated. It is crucial that the time period in which a lien can be filed is not allowed to slip by unnoticed. If it does, the ability [...]
Notice to Owner: Florida Court Provides Some Clarification
Ownership of a property can change frequently, and those transfers of ownership can happen before, during, or after construction. This can cause serious headaches in states, like Florida, in which some parties are required to send a notice to owner prior to filing a valid lien. Is a subcontractor or supplier on a Florida project [...]
Mechanics Liens and Pennsylvania’s Home Improvement Act
Pennsylvania’s Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act (HICPA) became effective on July 1, 2009. Under the law, all parties, including contractors and subcontractors, who perform more than $5,000 of work per year, and whose company is worth less than $50 million dollars, must register with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. HICPA essentially has an all-encompassing [...]
Mechanics Lien Law: Georgia Amendments Signed by Governor
Just a few weeks ago we wrote about how the Georgia legislature had passed several amendments to its mechanics lien law that were only waiting on the government’s signature. We’ve been following the bill’s progress closely and are happy to report that on May 7, 2013, Governor Nathan Deal signed House Bill 434 into law. [...]
California Mechanics Lien Law Changes: (Nearly) One Year Later
On July 1, 2012, a whole host of changes to California’s mechanics lien law went into effect. Given the substance of these changes and new requirements, the Lien blog published a series of articles describing the modifications to California’s mechanics lien law. But have the changes actually led to any change in the number [...]
Payment Bonds: Connecticut Court Rules on Deadline to Foreclose Case
If you’ve ever looked at Zlien’s state-by-state resource page, you’ll see that each state has deadlines that must be complied with. One deadline common to every state is the time in which a party must sue to foreclose on a mechanic’s lien. Connecticut is fairly generous in this regard; a party has up to one year [...]
Virginia Mechanics Liens: New Case Provides Answers and Questions
Complying with timing requirements is crucial to mechanics lien claims, but, as we’ve mentioned before, calculating these deadlines can sometimes be difficult. This is especially true in states with more than one date that must be calculated, and when there are different methods to calculating those dates. Even when the deadlines have been successfully navigated, [...]
North Carolina Lien Agent: Is LiensNC.com Necessary By Statute?
Over the past several months, the Lien Blog has spent a good deal of time discussing North Carolina’s recently amended lien laws, with special attention given to the newly created lien agent. As noted by a previous post, a Lien agent is defined by North Carolina statutory law as “A title insurance company or title [...]
Electronic Filing: A Review of www.LiensNC.com
As we noted in another post, more than 300 counties across the country offer electronic filing of mechanics lien and/or notices. Furthering electronic capabilities, some entire states, such as Iowa, are moving toward housing the entire lien registry online. Recently, North Carolina also implemented an online registry for lien agents through which notice to lien agents [...]
Lien Law Alerts
Mechanics lien and bond claim laws change constantly. New bills, laws and cases construe the mechanics lien laws on an almost daily basis. For years, we’ve made a commitment to providing our readers with free notifications of important changes in state and federal mechanics lien and bond claim laws, and these notifications are all organized under this “Lien Law Alerts” section. Rely on Zlien to continue monitoring legislation and case law across the country and report on any changes that could impact your company’s legal compliance with lien and bond claim laws.
Columnists
Scott Wolfe Jr., JD
CEO of Zlien, and a licensed attorney in six states, he's experienced in construction & corporate credit management laws....Read More
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Zlien's Chief Legal Mind and licensed attorney. Nate is a Stanford & Tulane Grad, a Jeopardy! alumni and more....Read More
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Gretchen Lynn
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Jason Bull
Zlien's Research Giant - He shares tips and info on how to confirm project, surety or construction party data.Read More
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