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Do I need to file an amended lien/bond claim?

Pennsylvania

I am a sub-sub on a PA county project. I filed my lien/bond claim in time but the wrong GC was listed. The deadline has now passed and I am sending the lien/bond claim to the correct GC. Do I need to file an amended claim to show the correct GC?

1 reply

Oct 4, 2021

First, note that PA's Little Miller Act doesn't discuss the potential amendment of claims. So, before going any further, it's not clear that it's even possible to amend a bond claim. Still, it's somewhat common for claimants to go ahead and issue an additional bond claim to correct information that wasn't included in their original claim. However, deadlines are extremely important, and if key information is missing or incorrect, attempts to fix things beyond the deadline will often be futile.

Regarding the claim, itself: § 194(b) of the PA Little Miller Act lays out the requirements for a claim. It states, in relevant part (with emphasis added): 

"Any claimant who has a direct contractual relationship with any subcontractor of the prime contractor who gave such payment bond or other financial security but has no contractual relationship, express or implied, with such prime contractor may bring an action on the payment bond or other financial security only if he has given written notice to such contractor within ninety days from the date on which the claimant performed the last of the labor or furnished the last of the materials for which he claims payment, stating with substantial accuracy the amount claimed and the name of the person for whom the work was performed or to whom the material was furnished."

So, the prime or "general" contractor must receive the payment bond claim for the claim to be validly established. If that contractor actually & properly received the claim, but the contractor info on the document simply had a typo or something, it's certainly possible the claim would be valid and sufficient. That is, so long as the proper contractor did, in fact, receive the claim. After all, the statute doesn't appear to strictly dictate that the GC's information appear on the claim document (though it does explicitly require the GC receive the claim). 

If the contractor did not receive the claim, as required, I'm not sure that taking some action after the deadline would be available to revive the claim - though it might not hurt to try. Of course, note that other remedies would still potentially be on the table (such as breach of contract).

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