Legal Question in Construction Law in California

Lis Pendens

The CSLB is in the process of preparing an accusation against a General Contractor based on my complaint. I fully expect they will find the GC has violated many laws and has cost me over $50 K in costs after using unlicensed workers and abandoning the job, (not to mention the invalid lien he filed as a delaying tactic..and boy..that was a doozy dealing with that.)

I have researched and determined that even though the GC does not have a lot of liquid assets he does own an unimproved one acre lot in a residential area.

Should I and can I request a Lis Pendens to stop him disposing of such assets or do I need to be the one directly taking the legal action in order to do this?

Thank You

Alan


Asked on 10/25/07, 8:43 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Benjamin Berger Berger-Harrison, A Professional Corporation

Re: Lis Pendens

A Lis Pendens is a claim to ownership of the property and you can only file one after you've filed a lawsuit in which you are seeking title to that same property. You don't claim to own that one acre parcel so a Lis Pendens would be improper.

If you sue, you might be able to attach the property (but not via Lis Pendens) at the outset, but you'd have to show some extraordinary reason why the court should allow that (like, perhaps, the defendant is a crook and he's likely to run off and hide his assets). If you get a judgment, you can then record your judgment against the property (if you meet other criteria) as part of your efforts to collect. With the judgment, you could even force the sale of the propery in certain situations.

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Answered on 10/25/07, 9:33 pm


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