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Mechanics Lien & Payment Bond Claims

Conway & Mrowiec regularly advises clients on complicated mechanics liens issues and has substantial experience in preparing mechanics lien claims.  Conway & Mrowiec has prosecuted and defended hundreds of millions of dollars in mechanics lien claims.  Some representative work involving mechanics liens has included:

Super Tall Foundation (Priority)

Defeated mortgagee’s motion for summary determination of priority resulting in nearly $9 million purchase of foundation contractor’s rights (84% of principal debt) against developer of abandoned project to construct tallest building in western hemisphere.

Power Plant: Priority

Prosecuted mechanics lien claim, priority dispute and bankruptcy litigation for international EPC contractor on suspended power plant mechanics lien issues involving eight-figure amount owing and defending against more than thirty claims recovering from sale of plant in bankruptcy before other creditors.

Suspended High Rise: Priority

Representing foundation contractor in priority dispute with lender regarding foundation for high-rise where superstructure not commenced.

Condominium

Defeated on behalf of mezzanine lender multi-million dollar mechanics lien claim of general contractor primarily comprised of extended duration claim.

Concert Pavilion

Prosecuted eight-figure mechanics lien, payment bond and contract claims of steel fabricator-erector on monumental concert pavilion.

Gasoline Refinery

“Constructively Fraudulently” Overstated Lien Claim. Defended EPC contractor against claim by piping installer on reformulated gasoline refinery project. After jury trial on subcontract claim, trial judge held a separate bench trial on mechanics lien issues. After the bench trial, the court ruled that subcontractor-claimant’s $3.3 million mechanics lien must be stricken as being fraudulently overstated. Conway & Mrowiec obtained cost information and testimony of claimant’s outside accountant that subcontractor’s losses were less than one-third of claim; the jury awarded only the true losses and court ruled lien claim of three times recovery was overstated nullifying the claim.

Telecommunications Facilities

Multi-State Mechanics Liens & Customer Bankruptcy. For design-builder of telecommunications facilities, recovered over $5 million (97 percent of amount claimed), despite bankruptcy of customer. Filed mechanics lien claims in 11 different states, followed by months of contested proceedings in the customer’s bankruptcy case regarding issues of post-petition lender’s “superpriority” lien and other issues.

Casino, Hotels and Residential Condominiums

Prosecuted mechanics lien claims for trade contractor on various portions of the CityCenter development in Las Vegas, one of the largest dollar mechanics lien disputes in U.S. history.

Resorts and Casino

Settled successfully for amount claimed by trade contractor on 3,000+ hotel, casino, meeting room and shopping galleria project for contract balance and extras totaling approximately $2 million without litigation avoiding eight years of arbitration/litigation by other project participants.

Underground Telecommunications Lines

For installer of telecommunications lines, pursued claims of mechanics liens, payment bond and failure to procure adequate bond against public fee owners and private asserted license holder involving cases in multiple courts. Involved in contested proceedings with lender in customer’s bankruptcy case resulting in successful settlement and payment to client of over $5 million.

Steel Plant

Incorrect Legal Description & “3 Year Rule.” Litigated as special mechanics lien co-counsel on behalf of EPC contractor of steel plant in owner’s bankruptcy to attempt to save $12 million mechanics lien claim prepared by another firm containing incorrect legal description. Delaware bankruptcy court agreed with our arguments on legal description.

Mixed-Use High Rises

Prepared and prosecuted multi-million dollar mechanics lien on sixty-story residential condominium, twenty-seven story hotel, retail and parking mixed-use structure recovering $3 million.

High Rise Condominium/Retail/Parking Garage

Prepared and prosecuting multi-million dollar mechanics lien claim on 64-story residential condominium, retail and parking garage in complex vertical subdivision.

Hotel

Prepared lien claim and successfully negotiated over $2 million recovery for subcontractor at resort hotel.

Hospital (Priority Dispute)

Prepared and successfully prosecuted foreclosure of lien claims for general contractor with multi-million dollar claim and priority dispute with mortgagee in owner bankruptcy.

Retail/Hotel High Rise

Litigated more than $25 million in mechanics lien claims filed by prime contractor, subcontractors and design professionals on behalf of separate retail and hotel owners and lenders on vertical subdivision. Issues include incorrect property descriptions, failure to allocate and overstated claims.

Assisted Living Center (Priority Dispute)

Litigated on behalf of general contractor lien priority dispute recovering over owner’s mortgagee on abandoned construction of assisted living facility.

Hotel (Priority Dispute)

Litigated on behalf of trade contractor priority dispute with mortgagee.

High Rise Office Tenant Build-Out

Successfully recovered entire claim of general contractor in settlement of foreclosure of mechanics lien claim against building owner where tenant defaulted.

Hospital

Prepared lien claims for general contractor for multi-million dollar receivable on multiple contracts. Owner paid claims in full at closing of sale of hospital.

Resort Hotel

Litigated mechanics lien claim on behalf of subcontractor on hotel renovation. Overcame summary judgment motion on “no lien” subcontract language.

Wind Farms

Represented electrical contractor in multi-million dollar payment dispute, including claims for extra costs to address design problems with the turbine generators.

Research Laboratories

The extensive building programs of Chicago-area universities have included complicated state-of-the-art research facilities.  Conway & Mrowiec has represented a number of MEP contractors in recovering amounts due and resolving the coordination and design issues that arise on such projects.

Hotel

Represented contractor of interior restaurant in priority dispute with construction lender recovering on mechanics lien claim where owner bankrupt.

Retail Center

Successfully recovered for general contractor of tenant improvements in shopping center in priority dispute with lender for insolvent owner.

Assisted Living

Successfully represented general contractor in suit to expunge defaulting subcontractor’s mechanics lien claim on assisted living project.

Retail Store

Successfully represented general contractor in mechanics foreclosure against owner and priority over lender where retail tenant defaulted in payment to contractor.