Legal Question in Business Law in New York

Re: Mechanical lein

A mechanic's lien is good for a year. Before that year expires, you need to make an application to extend it, unless you file a lien foreclosure action within the first year. The lien does nothing more than put potential purchasers and future mortgagees of the premises on notice of your claim and places your claim above subsequent lienors. Most likely, the property owner will not do anything and wait until you file the actual lien foreclosure action.

Now, you mention a "summons". Was a lien foreclosure commenced against the property owner? Or was a separate action commenced against a contractor only. The foreclosure action seeks relief against the property owner. It's up to the property owner to show that the contractor was paid all amounts due. If that's the case, you may be relegated to a contract action against the contractor.

The foreclosure action seeks, as its remedy, the sale of the property in order to satisfy the lien. There is typically a contractual dispute, and the property can be saved if the property owner agrees to pay the amount of a judgment after the parties rights are determined or posts an amount of money equal to the lien with the Court.

These are highly technical cases, and i is easy to make mistakes or open yourself up to liability if the lien is exaggerated.

Nothing prevents you from changing attorneys, but there is a process that has to be followed if there is a pending case, and a new lawyer will have you sign appropriate forms to make it happen.

Re: Mechanical lein

The answer by Mr. Simon was good and I share his question about the "summons." As he wrote, your filing of the lien does not force the owner to respond, a lawsuit must be commenced. Given that the amount is $25,000, you could commence in Civil Court, which is geared toward smaller cases. Its possible that you could do so on your own, without an attorney. I practice in Brooklyn, and would be happy to talk about this with you.

Re: Mechanical lein

You can certainly change attorneys if you so desire. There is a procedure that must be followed to execute that change properly. If a summons was actually served on your customer (who from your query seems to be a contractor) then an answer to it should have been served on your attorney and filed w/ the court. It seems from your facts that you do have a very viable action and are not wasting your time in your attempts to pursue the monies owed to you. This area of law is our specialty, however, we would need some more information before making a complete and proper determination. You are welcome to contact us for a free consultation.

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Re: Mechanical lein

A mechanic's lien is effective for one year and can be renewed for an additional year without judicial intervention.

$2,000.00 is a relatively low initial retainer. I usually require $5,000.00. Your attorney could easily go through those funds very quickly between drafting and serving the complaint, filing a Notice of Pendency (if applicable) and initial phone calls and correspondences.

Read you Retainer - you probably have an agreement which requires you to replenish when your balance runs low. The additional $2,000.00 requested also sounds very reasonable.

The only problem I see is that your attorney has to return your phone calls and answer your questions. If you are not satisfied with his response, you can terminate your attorney at any time.

I suggest that you try calling your attorney again and expressing your displeasure with his lack of a sufficient response. Remember, attorneys are human. Perhaps your attorney has a good excuse for being unresponsive. Also, he may be willing to accept a lesser additional retainer, perhaps $1,000.00 or $1,500.00.