TOPICS
POSTS BY STATE
November 11, 2009
Mechanics Lien Basics
If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: lien laws are a contractor or supplier’s secret weapon. The trouble is that utilizing the law can be complex and hyper-technical.
There are a million materials out in the webosphere to help those in the construction industry better understand the lien laws in their state. Express Lien offers some of these materials on its Lien Law Punchlist and Forms page (it’s free, by the way).
Ellen Rapport Tanowitz, a Massachusetts attorney, published a quick mechanics lien article on her Nine Points of Law Blog. The post answers some basic (but commonly misunderstood) questions about liens and the lien process.
The author promises us a few additional articles more closely examining the Massachusetts lien law landscape, which is good reason for Massachusetts contractors, subcontractors and suppliers to keep an eye on that feed. Take a look at the overview article referenced herein by vising the Nine Points of Law Blog.
Leave a comment
2 Comments.
Leave a Reply
In South Carolina these law are also very complex. Here process servers have a great deal of liability if the service is not done according to the law. If your state has any special service issues make sure that your process server is well versed in them. It will save you a great deal of grief. Also never use a process server that has no proof of an active E&O policy.
Hi JB – Very good point. We always talk about how lien laws are complex, that the filing requirements are technical, and how important it is to actually get the form drafted and sent off correctly…but the service of the documents often gets overlooked in this discussion.
In many states, as you state, service of liens, notices, etc. carries great weight. If the documents are served on the correct party, in the correct fashion…and done in a way that it can be later proved, it causes problems for the claimant. It may even invalidate the lien itself.
Thanks for chiming in on this. If you would like to write a guest post about this on our constructionlienblog.com, we’d be happy to have you. Also, we often serve papers in South Carolina, and will certainly keep your service in mind in the future.