In Arizona, the prevailing party in a mechanics lien lawsuit is entitled to have their reasonable attorney’s fees paid by the losing party. But, if multiple liens are filed against a property but only one is determined to have priority, how should that lien claimant’s attorney fees be divided up amongst the losing parties? A [...]
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Mechanics Lien Priority in NY: Lien vs Mortgage
Whenever a property owner goes into financial trouble, mechanics lien claimants naturally wonder if they can still get paid. This often comes down to determining where the mechanics lien ranks on the lien priority ladder. Unfortunately, the answer is far from simple. One may think that whatever assets the property owner still has could be [...]
Illinois Mechanics Lien Rises From The Dead: HB3636 Approved To Amend Mechanics Lien Act
Illinois Bankers Association – Vote No on House Bill 3636 from SlatersGarage on Vimeo. In early 2011, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a 5-2 decision in a mechanics lien priority case that prompted one member of the Illinois State Bar to proclaim the decision marked the “death of the mechanics lien.” Two years later, the [...]
Nevada Supreme Court Lien Priority Decision Costs Lenders $100 Million
Earlier this year we wrote about a Lien Priority dipute brewing in Nevada with high stakes for the parties. That post, Nevada Supreme Court Asked To Weigh In On High Stakes Lien Priority Dispute, discussed a battle between lien claimants and lenders about who had a better claim to $100 million dollars in a bankruptcy [...]
Will Mechanic’s Lien Claims Kill Construction Loans?
It isn’t often that mechanic’s lien claims get mentioned in the regular press. Nevertheless, Los Angeles Times reporter Lew Sichelman had to do his mechanic’s lien research for an article earlier last month in “Lenders, title insurers find new ways to delay or kill mortgages.” The article reports that title companies and lenders are becoming [...]
Pennsylvania Mechanic Liens Made Stronger By Recent Lien Priority Case
A recently published Pennsylvania Superior Court case significantly changed how mechanics lien priority is determined between lien claimants and banks with an open-ended mortgage. The decision – Commerce Bank Harrisburg NA v. Kessler - is decidedly pro-contractor or pro-supplier, and has already made an impact in determining lien priority on other cases throughout the state. Defining [...]
In North Dakota an Additional Lien Only on the Structure May Be Available – And Preferable
Generally speaking, a mechanic’s lien attaches to the property owner’s entire interest in the property – both the land, and the structure/improvement. In fact, N.D. Cent. Code, § 35-27-19 defines the land subject to a construction lien as follows: The entire land upon which any building, structure, or other improvement is situated, or to improve [...]
Mechanics Lien Priority Case Inspires Minnesota To Create New Analysis For Determining Whether A Project Is Abandoned Or Not
A mechanics lien claimant filed a lien after a mortgage was placed against the jobsite, but the lien related to work performed prior to the mortgage. These facts were stipulated to in a case rencently before the Minnesota Appeals Court, but they were still required to decide who had priority: the lender or the claimant? [...]
Oregon Mechanics Liens: Segregate Labor and Materials In The Claim
Each state is unique in the priority it affords to mechanics lien claims. In Oregon, mechanics lien claimants can have super-priority even over mortgages on lenders, or not. This depends on whether you notified the mortgagee and/or whether you filed your lien carefully enough. Notify The Mortgagee, Get Priority Oregon mechanics lien claims have priority over [...]
Mechanics Liens Have Priority Over Unrecorded Deed of Trust According to Missouri Supreme Court Ruling
The Missouri Supreme Court issued an opinion yesterday weighing in on a battle between a builder’s mechanics lien and a lender’s unrecorded deed of trust. The lender argued that the unrecorded deed of trust would have priority over a mechanics lien claim because the deed of trust need not meet the same recording requirements as [...]
Maine Mechanic’s Liens Potentially Have Priority over Mortgage
If the filing of a mechanic’s lien does not facilitate payment to the lien claimant, the lien must be foreclosed. One of the issues faced in a foreclosure action is: What happens when the sale of the property does not provide enough money to satisfy all claimants? When this situation occurs, the secured parties are [...]
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