Legal Question in Construction Law in California

Re: Mechanics Lien

Here are a few preliminary thoughts, not necessarily exhaustive of the things you need to know:

First, whenever your are sued (served with a summons and complaint), no matter how good your defenses or how flimsy the grounds upon which the plaintiff sues, you must file a timely answer in the proper format or risk losing by default. In most cases, you should retain an attorney to prepare and file your answer.

Next, a contractor performing a private work of improvement to real property (as here) has a constitutional right to a lien. Cal. Const. Art. XIV section 3; Civil Code section 3110.

The lien statutes distinguish between classes of claimants (contractors) -- original contractors are treated differently (in some respects) than are subcontractors, materialmen, etc.

A mechanic's lien is not enforceable unless a claim of lien is recorded within the time and in the manner required by law.

Before a claim of lien can be recorded, the claimant must give the owner a 20-day preliminary notice UNLESS the claimant is an original contractor (see above) or is performing actual labor for wages. Therefore, the contractor in your case apparently did not have to give you any notice--your contract itself would be notice of his lien. Civil Code section 3097.

Whether you recorded a notice of completion affects the time within which a claimant must record a lien....30 days after notice, or 90 days after completion if no notice recorded.

After a lien is duly recorded, the claimant has a limited time within which to bring a foreclosure action, usually 90 days.

An owner can obtain a bond to release a mechanic's lien while disputed claims are resolved. You should review your contract to see whether it provides for arbitration and whether there is an attorney fees provision; these will affect your strategy.

Since you could lose your property to a foreclosure sale, you should take immediate steps to protect yourself, probably including retaining a local attorney to sort out the contract issues and meanwhile head off the foreclosure. Use of a payment bond may be a good idea.