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Last delivery date

Wrt the trigger date for NC liening, which is 120 days from last furnishing of labor/materials. We have a scenario where our customer (who has not paid use) did not take delivery of the material at the project site, but rather to another solar site and to warehouses. Question is, when the customer moves the material to the actual project site where the material we sold them will be used (and was initially intended to be shipped), can we use that date as the last date of furnishing of materials - as the trigger date for filing a lien?

1 reply

Apr 6, 2018

That's a fair question, and it's not much of a stretch to apply a last furnishing date to when the materials are actually brought to the job site. However, this interpretation runs counter to how last furnishing is typically calculated for a material supplier. Last furnishing more typically refers to the claimant's last efforts under their contract to perform the work they were contracted to do. Thus, when a material supplier has completed their supply of materials, last furnishing has typically been achieved - even when that material might be transported another time by someone other than the supplier. It's not necessarily black and white, though - and there may be room to argue that a situation such as the one above falls into grey area of North Carolina lien law. In North Carolina, the time for filing a lien is "not later than 120 days after the last furnishing of labor or materials at the site of the improvement by the person claiming the lien." (emphasis added). Further, the lien must include the "Date upon which labor or materials were last furnished upon said property by the claimant:" (emphasis added). Of course, attempting to manipulate deadlines can get dangerous, quick. The safer and more correct date to utilize, though, will typically be the last date on which a claimant themselves has performed under their contract.

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