Menu
Home>Levelset Community>Legal Help>Do material suppliers have rights regarding projects in Illinois for work done prior to "ship date"?

Do material suppliers have rights regarding projects in Illinois for work done prior to "ship date"?

Illinois
Lisa Snyder
Office Manager - UT Branch at CEI Composite Materials, LLC. DBA CEI Materials, LLC.

Our company supplies fabricated materials to job sites for others to install. Are there laws that protect material suppliers that incur costs prior to "ship date"? We generally have engineering costs, material costs, fabrication labor costs, etc... We have not prepared the preliminary paperwork through Levelset yet, as the dates pertain to "ship date" rather than "in-house labor" start date, or "material received" date, etc... We were awarded a project and we began the process of engineering and fabrication. We billed the customer for those costs and have not received payment. The project may now be cancelled. 1) Can we still submit preliminary paperwork and prepare for a lien even though materials have not shipped yet? 2) What other options do we potentially have?

4 replies

Principal at BUPD Law
| 11 reviews
Sep 12, 2022
Illinois courts are not entirely clear on this issue but generally, the answer would be no, you do not have lien rights without delivery to the actual property. The “labor” or in your case the engineering and fabrication would generally not be considered incorporated into the real property as a whole, unless and until you actually deliver the goods to the site. For example, an architect, would generally not have lien rights for their services unless and until the property is actually improved based upon the work they performed. This does not leave you with no rights or remedies but rather, just means you cannot assert a mechanics lien under the Illinois Mechanics Lien Act.. You can still file a lawsuit for breach of contract and unjust enrichment. You also may have other claims depending upon your contract documents. I would need to see the written contract between your company and the general contractor or owner to opine further. I hope this helps answer your question.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
Construction Attorney at M. Hedayat & Associates, P.C.
| 23 reviews
Sep 14, 2022

I agree with the posted reply. Bottom line: whether or not you have lien rights in this context, you of course have a breach of contract claim, and thanks to recently enacted changes in IL law, you may also have a claim under Section 13.5 of the Wage Payment and Collection Act (820 ILCS 115/13.5) effective July 1, making primary contractors liable for payments due to employees of subcontractors on Illinois private construction projects. Best of luck!

1 person found this helpful
Helpful
Lisa Snyder
Office Manager - UT Branch at CEI Composite Materials, LLC. DBA CEI Materials, LLC.
Sep 14, 2022

Thank you for your response. I will relay this information to our President and CEO. 

We appreciate you taking the time to provide helpful insight and possible solutions.

Sinscerely,

Lisa Snyder, Office Manager, CEI Materials

1
Report Spam
Principal at BUPD Law
| 11 reviews
Sep 15, 2022
Glad to help.
1 person found this helpful
Helpful