My company project managed a fire at a 9 unit bldg. State Farm played many games throughout the process. From grossly undervaluing the loss at $247,500, failing to advance any funds until I threatened to send the insured to an attorney, changed adjusters 5 times and slow walked subsequent funds for what turned out to be $1.8M in damages. They then stiffed the client for any oversight of remediation and abatement. A fee the industries pays at 20% of the underlying cost. Even though I only billed at 10% they told the insured they will not pay a penny despite much documentation and communication of my deep involvement. I do not want to burn a bridge with the client. However, I also do not want to walk away from the $35,000+ rightfully owed. They cannot point to any policy exclusion and admit "they pay on occasion". I have successfully collected the 20% in the past from State Farm. Here, with $1.8M in damages involving nine units, during COVID- shut-down and displaced residents, I cannot think of a loss that was more qualifying. Unfortunately, the fifth adjuster came in with an attitude that we were ripping off State Farm. As a former Insurance Agent and Claims Adjuster, nothing could be further from the truth and I took her to task for that.
Assuming everything was done correctly on the prelims and lien, you would file a lawsuit to foreclose the lien. There are some strict timelines on this, so you want to do it quickly or else the lien becomes invalid. A construction attorney can do this for you.
This is an online question and answer system, so I think any answers you get from an attorney here will be general guidance. But lien foreclosure and breach of contract are things that many attorneys on here, myself included, can handle. You can contact me directly if you want to talk more about it and go from general guidance to specific advice.