Contractor ordered a 1000 gallon fuel cell without my knowledge as the property owner, contractor was doing dirt work on 4 different sites nearby along with mine, he didn't pay his bill with the fuel people and they are threatening to put a lien against my property, Texas is where I'm at, I assumed it was his fuel cell and just carried on, would that be legal to hold me responsible
Hello,
The answer to this question is nuanced. To begin, a material supplier can only lien for the value of the material that was supplied for your property. Here, we do not know if they are threatening to lien for the full value of the fuel supplied or if they are dividing it up by project.
Next, the fuel supplier would also have a fight on their hands to determine if they are even a subcontractor/material supplier for the project or if the responsibility merely stops at the subcontractor that didn't pay them as they are not directly in the chain of contractors.
Here's an article on the subject.
Needless to say, you have some ways to push back. In the alternative, if there is still money in the project, you can pay off the fuel company and deduct the amount that you would pay the GC while informing the GC that they should deduct the amount from what they are supposed to pay the sub.
E. Aaron Cartwright III
214.789.1354
Aaron@EACLawyer.com