A federal judge in New York served up a good reminder last week about the importance of dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s when it comes to perfecting a mechanic’s lien. The case involves a payment dispute between a subcontractor and general contractor on a police station renovation project in the Bronx.
The subcontractor liened the job and brought suit to foreclose its lien (among other claims). The New York lien law at issue for public improvement works provides that a lien “shall not continue for a longer period than one year from the time of filing the notice of such lien, unless an action is commenced to foreclose such lien within that time, and a notice of the pendency of such action is filed with the comptroller of the state or the financial officer of the public corporation with whom the notice of such lien was filed.” N.Y. Lien Law Section 18 (emphasis added). The subcontractor had filed its lien and a lawsuit to enforce it within one year but had failed to file the notice of pendency. The subcontractor’s lien had therefore automatically expired after one year. The subcontractor argued that the notice of pendency was unnecessary because the contractor had bonded off the lien. The court rejected that argument and dismissed the subcontractor’s lien claim. The case is J&A Concrete Corp. v. Dobco Inc., 2025 WL 605252 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 24, 2025). A copy of the court’s opinion is located here.
