{"id":904911,"date":"2025-10-10T18:22:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T00:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=904911"},"modified":"2025-10-10T18:22:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T00:22:26","slug":"construction-lien-pursuit-failure-doent-create-gotcha-argument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/construction-lien-pursuit-failure-doent-create-gotcha-argument\/","title":{"rendered":"The Failure to Pursue a Construction Lien Does Not Create a &#8220;Gotcha&#8221; Arguement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>David Adelstein | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.floridaconstructionlegalupdates.com\/the-failure-to-pursue-a-construction-lien-does-not-create-a-gotcha-argument\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Florida Construction Legal Updates<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just&nbsp;because a party does not pursue its lien rights, or waives it lien rights, or satisfies its lien, does NOT mean the party is foreclosed of its other rights, such as breach of contract or unjust enrichment. Florida\u2019s Construction Lien Law even states that it is \u201c<strong>cumulative to other existing remedies and nothing contained in this party shall be construed to prevent any lien or assignee under any contract from maintaining an action thereon at law in like manner as if he or she had no lien for the security of his or her debt, and the bringing of such action shall not prejudice his or her rights under this part, except as herein otherwise expressly provided<\/strong>.\u201d&nbsp;<em>See<\/em>&nbsp;Fla. Stat. s. 713.30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet, a party will still try to raise a party\u2019s satisfaction of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/lien-fund-construction-liens\/\">lien<\/a> or waiver of lien rights as some kind of \u201c<em>gotcha<\/em>\u201d tactic. This is what transpired in\u00a0<em>Hernandez v. Burleigh House Condominium, Inc<\/em>., 50 Fla.L.Weekly D1802a (Fla. 3d DCA 2025). A lienor recorded a construction lien. The owner recorded a Notice of Contest of Lien to shorten the lienor\u2019s statute of limitations to foreclose on the lien. The lienor elected not to foreclose on the construction lien and, instead, subsequently sued for\u00a0<strong>unjust enrichment<\/strong>. The owner raised the \u201c<em>gotcha<\/em>\u201d argument, that being that the lienor extinguished its rights to pursue the unjust enrichment claim because it did not timely foreclose on the lien. \u00a0While the owner got the trial court to agree with its position, the appellate court was not fooled:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Indeed, it is well settled that the discharge of a construction lien does not preclude a lienor from pursuing other contractual remedies that are available under the common law. &nbsp;This includes, as here, quasi contract (implied in law) claims for unjust enrichment that seek damages<\/strong>.&nbsp;<em>See Unnerstall v. Designerick, Inc.,<\/em>&nbsp;17 So. 3d 900, 902 n.2 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009) (directing the trial court to discharge a construction lien for the lienor\u2019s failure to strictly comply with Chapter 713\u2019s requirements, but noting that the lienor \u201cstill may enforce its contractual claims\u201d for breach of oral contract, open account, and&nbsp;<em>unjust enrichment<\/em>);&nbsp;<em>Commerce P\u2019ship 8098 Ltd. P\u2019ship v. Equity Contracting Co.,<\/em>&nbsp;695 So. 2d 383, 389-90 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997) (\u201cThe construction lien statutes of some states preclude, or have been construed to preclude, the maintenance of a quasi contract claim. Florida\u2019s construction lien statute contains no similar limitation on a lienor\u2019s potential remedies. . . . [I]n Florida, . . . all implied contract actions were part of the action of assumpsit, which was an action at law under the common law.\u201d) (citations omitted).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Hernandez, supra<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Adelstein | Florida Construction Legal Updates Just&nbsp;because a party does not pursue its lien rights, or waives it lien rights, or satisfies its lien, does NOT mean the party is foreclosed of its other rights, such as breach of contract or unjust enrichment. Florida\u2019s Construction Lien Law even states that it is \u201ccumulative to&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/construction-lien-pursuit-failure-doent-create-gotcha-argument\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Failure to Pursue a Construction Lien Does Not Create a &#8220;Gotcha&#8221; Arguement<\/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],"class_list":["post-904911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mechanics-lien-law","tag-advise-consult","tag-mechanics-lien-law","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>The Failure to Pursue a Construction Lien Does Not Create a &quot;Gotcha&quot; 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