Stan Martin | Commonsense Construction Law | January 24, 2018
Mechanic’s lien rights arise from the laws of each state; there is no common-law right to unilaterally lien someone else’s property. As such, compliance with statutory requirements and deadlines is paramount. Thus, when an owner promised to pay a sub, and the sub elected not to pursue lien rights based on that promise, the sub lost out on its lien when it missed the statutory deadlines.
This case is in Massachusetts, but it is likely the same outcome would result in all other states. Equitable theories that might apply in other circumstances (e.g., equitable tolling of statutes of limitation when one forebears based on promises from another) do not apply when the underlying right is based on compliance with lien law standards and deadlines.
The sub was owed $196,500. It took the first two steps (out of three) under the Massachusetts lien law, to secure a mechanic’s lien. The third step was to file a lawsuit, but the sub didn’t file based on what it claimed were promises of payment. In the meantime, the deadline to file a lawsuit (90 days after the second step) came and went. When no payment was made, the sub tried to resurrect its lien rights by taking steps 1 and 2 again, but by now the deadline for those steps had passed under the lien law.
The sub argued that the lien law deadlines should be equitably extended, but the trial court, and then the Appeals Court, disagreed. “A mechanic’s lien is not a common-law right but a creature of statute, which ‘compels strict compliance in order to obtain relief.’” The sub’s lien rights had lapsed when the deadlines passed, regardless of any promises of payment that may have been made.
The lesson? Ignore lien law deadlines at your peril. The case is D5 Iron Works v. Danvers Fish & Game Club, 2018 Mass. App. Unpub. LEXIS 60 (Jan. 22, 2018).