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What are our lien rights

ColoradoRight to Lien

We are a small contractor doing three large jobs for a large contractor located in Florida/Utah. They pressured us into starting the job in October (with all kinds of promises and discussions on how this is going to be a great long-term relationship, etc) and didn't supply a contract until late November. My husband did sign the contract which essentially seems to eliminate all of our rights. They did not make the progress payments (as verbally promised) which led to confusion and a MASSIVE PUSH to get the job finished on time which required them to buy all the remaining materials (since they hadn't paid the progress payment as promised). Now it's looking like they aren't going to pay us any additional funds and we have two other BIG jobs going with them that are in a similar boat (they are now furnishing all the materials and our guys are providing the labor). They ALSO hired my husband to be their project manager (separate contract) that they are also not paying on anymore either. This is going to completely bankrupt our business if they don't pay us on these jobs as they have been our focus since October. We are in a panic. How can we find out what our rights are? Is the contract they had us sign legally binding in Colorado (as it literally strips away all of our rights)?

4 replies

Feb 23, 2021
Good morning, I am so sorry about the issues. A few initial questions. Does the contract specify Colorado law and venue or is the law in venue in another state. This is important as to your options but there may be ways around that depending on the terms and the facts. Next time, please make sure to talk to a CO attorney before you sign a contract as once it is signed you may have lost a great deal of rights and the cost to enforce those rights can be considerable. As to how to find out your rights, the only viable way to do that is to retain an attorney to review every word of the contracts and get more facts. As a general rule, most business contract clauses are allowable. There are certain limitations as to indemnification and other provisions but often incredibly unilateral and onerous provisions are allowable as the law basically allows commercial parties to negotiate the terms that they see fit which goes to my point of never signing a contract without legal advice. Reach out to CO attorneys and arrange an initial consultation and then hire one to determine your options.
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Feb 23, 2021
I forgot to answer as to your general question as to lien rights. If you improved property in Colorado, you can file a lien. You must do this timely and correctly or you may lose your lien rights. Don't fall into the trap of believing X, Y, or Z and then your time to file passes based on whatever promises they made to do this or that. File timely and properly. If you are a subcontractor and this relates to improvements in Colorado, your attorney should explain your various rights and options for notice to disburser or the trust fund statute that may be useful to get paid and as leverage to negotiate depending on the facts.
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Feb 24, 2021
The form we signed for the job is a "Short Form Subcontract Agreement" and is very general/not state specific. The larger company is based out of Florida. We also have a SEPARATE contract for Project Management overall that they have also now decided to stop paying on (without notice or warning). I noticed you are on the list that Ryan provided me. I will try to contact you directly to see if I can schedule a consultation. Thank you.
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Feb 24, 2021
Good afternoon. You're welcome. As I noted, if the property you improved is in Colorado then you have a lien right. The question of your contract and terms is related to whether there was an agreement on law and venue. If the agreement did not include that, then it is a question of conflict of law and other facts. You can email me at robert@pivotallegal.com directly.
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