We seemed to misunderstand how long we had to file a lien, a rep at Levelset says it wont go through prior to April 10th in Monmouth County NJ if we do this now. We need to see what other course of action we have or can take on a very large commercial job that we started on Christmas 2022 and completed on 4/10/23. The amount due was $508,127.25 and we have been paid less than half, and are still owed a balance $282,497.25 This is a commercial water mitigation that is an insurance loss at a school which is rented from a church.
Completed the job on 1/10/23 not 4/10
Bonnie,
Unless your right to payment from your client is subject to the owner's receipt of payment from a third party owner or insuarance carrier, it sounds like your company has a viable claim for breach of contract against your client, as well as for the violation of the NJ Prompt Payment Act. I would engage a qualified New Jersey attorney who understands construction law and file a lawsuit as soon as possible.
For what it's worth, my understanding is that you had 90 days to file a lien for a commercial construction project:
1/10/2023 plus ninety days = 4/10/2023 (next Monday). This is all the more reason for you to contact an experienced construction attorney to represent you. If you can still record the lien, you should definitely do that through the attorney who you hire.
Good luck!
Colin