Home>Levelset Community>Legal Help>We had your office send out a preliminary notice for our client at the end of June. Our client was a demolition sub-subcontractor on the project. His last day on the project was in late April. When we had the notice of intent sent, it was our understanding that the project was ongoing. We have just learned that the contract under which our client was working was a contract for "Phase 1- Demolition" and that the contract had been filed and a notice of termination had been filed on May 10, 2019. The questions we have are: (1) does this preclude the filing of a lien because of timing; (2) if so, are we required to do anything further with regard to the notice of intent that was filed (i.e., does it have to be withdrawn (3) does it matter if our client was not informed of the filing of the notice of termination until July 18th?
We had your office send out a preliminary notice for our client at the end of June. Our client was a demolition sub-subcontractor on the project. His last day on the project was in late April. When we had the notice of intent sent, it was our understanding that the project was ongoing. We have just learned that the contract under which our client was working was a contract for "Phase 1- Demolition" and that the contract had been filed and a notice of termination had been filed on May 10, 2019. The questions we have are: (1) does this preclude the filing of a lien because of timing; (2) if so, are we required to do anything further with regard to the notice of intent that was filed (i.e., does it have to be withdrawn (3) does it matter if our client was not informed of the filing of the notice of termination until July 18th?
We represent a demolition sub-subcontractor on a commercial project in Louisiana. See question for additional details.
1 reply
Jul 23, 2019
Sorry to hear about your situation. Louisiana mechanics lien requirements can tend to be a bit confusing. La. R.S. 9:4822 states that a claimant has 30 days after the filing of a notice of termination of the work to file a statement of their claims and privileges. This is a hard deadline, and once this has passed, the claimant will lose their ability to file a mechanics lien.
As for receiving notification that a notice of termination has been filed, the statute does touch on this. The law requires that the owner notify any claimants that sent preliminary notice within 3 days of filing a notice of termination. Unfortunately, failure to notify the claimant doesn't change the fact that if the deadline to file a lien claim is missed, the claimant loses their right to file a claim.
However, the statute does impose penalties on an owner who fails to notify claimants that a notice of termination has been filed. The owner who fails to give notice... shall be liable for all costs and attorney's fees for the establishment and enforcement of a claim or privilege. So if the debt remains unpaid, and the claimant files another action based on breach of contract or unjust enrichment, costs and attorney's fees will be imposed on the owner.
This particular rule has recently been clarified by the passage of HB 203. We just published an article summarizing all the changes and clarifications made by the bill: LA Mechanics Lien Rules Updated.