Thursday, October 24, 2019

By: Sharice Marootian of Abdulaziz, Grossbart & Rudman

We have all heard of mechanic's liens being invalid when they are recorded after the statutory deadline (generally, 90 days from completion of the work, with certain exceptions). But did you know that your mechanic's lien can also be deemed invalid if it recorded too early? 

That was exactly the outcome in a recent California Court of Appeal case entitled 
Precision Framing Systems, Inc. v. Henry Luzuriaga. In this case, Henry and Deborah Luzuriaga undertook to construct a veterinary hospital. They hired a general contractor and architect. The general contractor then hired Precision Framing Systems, Inc. ("Precision") as the framing subcontractor. Precision contracted with Inland Empire Truss, Inc. ("Inland") for design and fabrication of the trusses. Although Inland contracted solely with Precision and invoiced Precision, it was paid directly by the construction lender.

The chronology of events is important in this case. Therefore, I will bullet point them:

• July 24, 2013: Precision started work on framing
• July 29, 2013: Inland delivered the trusses
• August 2, 2013: Precision began installing the trusses
• August 7, 2013: City issued a correction notice relating to the trusses 
• August 14, 2013: Precision notified Inland that the trusses were defective
• Later in August 2013: Inland carried out repairs to the trusses
• December 9, 2013: City issued a second correction notice relating to the trusses
• December 23, 2013:General contractor and Precision's superintendent walked the project