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Can I still file a Stop Notice if it expired yesterday?

We are a Material supplier, provided materials for Public Works project. Our customer, the G.C. has not paid his invoices with us. The deadline to file a Stop Notice was yesterday, we missed it. (directly due to corona virus also) Can it still be filed or are there other avenues? Thank you.

1 reply

Apr 24, 2020

California Code § 9356 states that: "A stop payment notice is not effective unless given before the expiration of whichever of the following time periods is applicable: (a) If a notice of completion, acceptance, or cessation is recorded, 30 days after that recordation. (b) If a notice of completion, acceptance, or cessation is not recorded, 90 days after cessation or completion." If, as you note, this 30 0r 90-day period is missed, the stop notice will not be effective. This is a strict deadline, so once it has passed, it has passed. However, there may potentially be another option to recover. While California provides a stop notice as one potential avenue for recovery, many public projects also require the GC to post a payment bond to provide payment security to sub-tier participants. If a project participant provided the required 20-day preliminary notice, a suit to enforce the liability on the project's payment bond can be initiated "at any time after the claimant ceases to provide work, but not later than six months after the period in which a stop payment notice may be given." So, if the preliminary notice was sent, the payment bond can provide payment protection for a period of up to 6 months longer than the time in which a stop notice could be filed.

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