{"id":898189,"date":"2020-11-10T13:47:19","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T20:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=898189"},"modified":"2020-11-10T13:47:23","modified_gmt":"2020-11-10T20:47:23","slug":"overstated-lien-is-void","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/overstated-lien-is-void\/","title":{"rendered":"Overstated Lien is Void; Contractor Thus Liable to Owner for Damages"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Stanley A. Martin | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commonsenseconst.com\/construction\/overstated-lien-is-void-contractor-thus-liable-to-owner-for-damages\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Commonsense Construction Law<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The New York lien law, similar to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/mechanics-liens-arbitration-provision\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lien laws<\/a> in some other states, calls for rejection of a lien if it has been \u201cwillfully exaggerated.\u201d A New York Appellate Division court has upheld rejection of a contractor\u2019s lien for that reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Contractor and homeowners signed a contract for renovation work. Homeowners terminated the contract when the project was only partially complete, and arranged for completion by another contractor. In the follow-on lawsuit, the trial judge determined that the contractor had been overpaid based on evidence that the homeowners had paid the contractor $45,865.48, but the value of work performed was only $36,350.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The contractor had also asserted a lien for $33,870. At trial, the contractor\u2019s principal testified that he had records to support the claims for additional money, but he didn\u2019t introduce any of the purported records. The trial judge did not find this testimony to be credible, and as noted above had decided the contractor was already overpaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, the contractor had \u201cwillfully exaggerated\u201d its lien claim. Under\u00a0\u00a7 39 of the NY lien law, the contractor\u2019s lien claim was void, and under\u00a0\u00a7 39-a, the homeowners were entitled to recover damages from the contractor arising from the invalid lien claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The case is\u00a0<em>Lapenna Contr., Ltd. v Mullen<\/em>, 2020 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6393 (App. Div., 3<sup>rd<\/sup>\u00a0Dept., Oct. 29, 2020) (subscription required).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stanley A. Martin | Commonsense Construction Law The New York lien law, similar to lien laws in some other states, calls for rejection of a lien if it has been \u201cwillfully exaggerated.\u201d A New York Appellate Division court has upheld rejection of a contractor\u2019s lien for that reason. Contractor and homeowners signed a contract for&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/overstated-lien-is-void\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Overstated Lien is Void; Contractor Thus Liable to Owner for Damages<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10772],"tags":[9895,184,303],"class_list":["post-898189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mechanics-lien-law","tag-advise-consult","tag-mechanics-lien-law","tag-new-york","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Overstated Lien is Void; 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