Grill and Schieber Achieve Major Victory on Behalf of Building Owner

David M. Grill and Evan Schieber achieved a major victory on behalf of a building owner and a surety in a litigation involving a mechanic’s lien filed by a contractor against a building owned by our client. The litigation, entitled EZ Runer Construction v Blue Nirvana, LLC, Supreme Court, New York County, Index No. 161915/2015 raised novel issues in a complicated area of law that required the Court to resolve, for the first time in decades, nuanced questions concerning the interpretation and interplay of competing lien law statutes.

The action arose out of a lien filed by the contractor that was discharged by a bond. While the contractor timely filed a notice of claim against the bond, it did not commence an action within one (1) year from the filing of the lien. The contractor urged that by timely filing a notice of claim against the bond, it was relieved of the one-year time limit to either foreclose or extend the lien. The Supreme Court rejected that argument and agreed with our interpretation of the statutory scheme. The Court held that despite timely filing a notice of claim against the bond, the failure by the contractor to commence a lien foreclosure action within one year resulted in the contractor forfeiting any rights it had under the lien and the bond. As a result, the Court vacated the lien, canceled the bond and dismissed the action against surety.

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