Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Maryland
Legal Responsibility to pay
Does a general contractor on a construction project have a legal responsibility to make sure its subcontractors and their subcontractors are paid for their services? - We were hired to provide crane service by one company, who was hired by the general contractor on the project and we are not able to locate our customer so we turned to the general contractor on the project for help with collections or for payment, they offered us an amount that we felt was not sufficient to cover our expenses and we rejected the offer in writing. The general contractor responded in writing and rescinded their previous offer and is not willing to offer any money to us at this point. Is there anything we can do to recover any money?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Legal Responsibility to pay
It is possible that you have several options:
You may have a right to assert a mechanics' lien as a subcontractor to a subcontractor.
You may be able to make a claim in the bankruptcy court if that is why the sub that you were working for disappeared.
You may also be able to collect from those who owe money to your customer (or possibly even its owners).
In any event, you should consult with an attorney regarding all of your options. This will require you to provide specific information regarding the work that you have done, who your customer is, who the general contractor and the property owner are, information about the overall work that is being done (to the extent that you know it), and anything you know about your customer and its history. This, of course, is not information which should be provided on a bulletin board but should be discussed privately with an attorney. Moreover, you should have an attorney guide you through either the mechanics' lien process or the bankruptcy claims process because they are both very technical and, if not followed exactly, can result in a waiver of your claims.
I would be happy to discuss these issues with you if you would like.
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