I'm a contractor. My supplier sent me a partial order of materials and then disappeared when I requested the rest of the materials. 3 months went by, several phone calls, voicemails, and text message go unanswered. I filed a charge back on my credit card. No communication from the supplier still. He lost the investigation and I was awarded the monies back. He is now trying to file a mechanics lein against my customers house. What can I do to contest this? The supplier contacted me days after the charge back processed, demanding the money back and is unwilling to negotiate for the materials I had to buy to replace what he did not send out.
First and foremost, a lienor has only 4 months to file a mechanics lien against a single family home. You mentioned that three months went by from the last time the supplier provided materials until the time you initiated the charge back, and you also mentioned some back and forth after that. If more than 4 months elapsed overall from the time he provided his last materials, the lien is untimely and is subject to discharge on that basis. Assuming that it is a timely filed lien, and also assuming that the homeowner is pressuring you to have the lien removed from the property, you can always either seek to obtain a lien discharge bond, or deposit money into court, while you have fight about whether he actually earned the monies that he's claiming.
As to the materials he did provide, you may ultimately have to pay him for those materials, depending on what you used, and whether you had to do anything special to integrate what he provided with what you ended up having to buy. In addition to any costs you incurred to use what he did provide, if there were any, you also can back charge him for the difference between the price of the materials he should have provided and any higher price that you ultimately paid. It sounds like you may want to reach out to a construction lawyer to chat about how to handle the specifics. Please feel free to reach out to me so that we can discuss this further.
if the project is a single family home, his time to file has probably expired. it is is a commercial project, he has 8 months to file his lien. As for his ability to foreclose, since you had to replace the material and did not incorporate his into the job, he will have a hard time foreclosing.
I recommend you retain a lawyer, at least to advise you on handling this in the most economical manner.
Thank you for your responses! I am going through the details of this since he and I have been going back and forth via email with his endless threats. This is for a single family home in Rye Brook NY. The last delivery I received from him was on February 8th by UPS. He was sending bits and pieces of hardware, trying to fill the order.
He is threatening myself, and my customer, with a Mechanic's Lien and also threatening that that would be the start. The full balance he's requesting is $4,615. Claiming everything was delivered. I offered him $3,610.91. His balance minus the 3 posts and post covers he never sent.
He's constantly claiming I'm trying to steal, my customer is trying to steal, etc., not taking responsibility for anything, all the while my customer still has a considerable balance owed to me which may get hung up over this. I at no point said, or eluded, to not paying for what I received. My argument has been that I only want to pay for what I received.
At this amount for the balance, is it worth retaining a lawyer for?
truthfully, it is not work retaining an attorney. May i suggest you send him the amount you think he is due and mark the check "full and final payment." see if he cashes it.
Thank you Carol. I appreciate it. He is refusing a check and will only take a Credit Card. Won't allow me to send any other amount than the one he designated.
this will wind up in small claims court. you will need an attorney, so will he, so i think you should let it play out. if he liens, go to Court Bond 201-820-8433 and bond it off. If he sues, you might need a lawyer, but it should be pretty inexpensive. good luck, email me if you want to bounce ideas off me.
It looks like it. He emailed back, ignoring the offer to pay for what I received, claiming he has indisputable proof that every item offloaded from the delivery truck and that he will be sueing myself and my customer. Does he have any legal action against my customer beyond a mechanic's lien? My customer is not in any agreement with him.
I'll gladly pay the bond if that removes my customer from the entire interaction. Also, I'm happy to have my customer hold on to that portion of the funds until this is resolved. All this is over a $1,000 discrepancy.
I agree with your plan.