Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Demand for Payment

It depends. Did you contract directly with the owner or was your contract with a sub? Are you a material supplier to another material supplier or are you a subcontractor?

If you contracted directly with the owner, then no prelim is required. If you did not, then a prelim would be required, but ONLY to enforce your lien rights. Even without a prelim, you can still sue for breach of contract, accout stated, open book account, etc.

Of course, all the above presupposes that you were duly licensed.

If you would like to pursue this, feel free to contact us for an intial consult.

Best of Luck!

www.SoCalConstructionLaw.com

714.904.1669

Re: Demand for Payment

I assume you are a licensed contractor, because if you aren't and the job required one, you are pretty much out of luck.

The next question is whether you are the prime contractor and in direct contract with the owner, or fall into a downstream category such as a sub, a materialman, an equipment supplier, etc. - these are the people subject to the 20-day pre-lien notice requirement; the prime contractor who is in direct contract with the owner is generally exempt because the 20-day law is there to make the owner aware of potential lienholders he's perhaps never met or even heard of, but there's no need to pre-warn the owner about someone he's dealt with up front and in person.

So, you may be entitled to a lien anyway, but at a minimum, if you had a license, you can always sue even without suit to enforce a lien; it can be a suit to enforce the payment terms of the contract, that is to say, a garden-variety breach of contract suit. You have less leverage, but it may work, especially if the claim is Small-Claims eligible.