Over the past few years the California Legislature has been tinkering with its construction lien laws, both public an private. There have been numerous write-ups with commentators chiming in on whether the changes are a good thing or a bad thing. Nevertheless, many have happened and more changes are set to come shortly.

As of July 1, 2012 the governing statutes will be assigned to new numbers and a new section of the California Civil Code. Jones Day did a very comprehensive article back in January of this year outlining the changes. Here is an excerpt from the article of how the code articles are going to be changed in numbering:

“Effective July 1, 2012, the existing Mechanics Lien Law (commencing with Section 3082 of the Civil Code) will be repealed and replaced with new provisions in three titles relating to: (i) works of improvement generally (commencing with Civil Code Section 8000); (ii) private works of improvement (commencing with Civil Code Section 8170); and (iii) public works of improvement (commencing with Civil Code Section 9100).” See the full article here.

This is a big deal for contractors, lawyers and document preparation companies because the entire landscape is changing. Even if the substance of the law is the same, lawyers will tell you that words and punctuation can be very costly when left up to new interpretation.

More recently another construction law blog gave a more brief version of the new changes that have gone into and will be going into effect. Mark Budwig of Government Contracts Advisor posted these in his March 2, 2012 post.

The key here is not to panic but to embrace the changes and be the savvy contractor who knows about the changes and does not get rattled. Another important factor is to outsource trivial knowledge like this to trusted sources like an attorney or a more efficient service such as Zlien.com.

Guest Post: Derek Singleton, ERP Analyst, Software Advice

“At Software Advice, we spend a lot of time reviewing construction software of every variety. While we’re well-versed in the promised benefits of various systems, we’re always interested to know whether those benefits are realized by companies. Toward that end, we decided to survey the construction estimating industry to find out whether estimating software actually helps companies win bids.

To get responses, we enlisted the help of everyone from construction bloggers to LinkedIn group admins and construction associations. Ultimately, we came up with a set of benchmark findings that will allow estimators to compare themselves against industry standards.

More than 100 companies responded to the survey and shared their thoughts on how to effectively estimate. The companies that responded to the survey represent a variety of trades and company sizes.

While the types and sizes of construction companies participating in the survey varied, there were a few commonalities between companies and how they estimated their jobs. For instance, while the jury is still out as to whether spreadsheets are a good method of estimating, a majority of companies that use an estimating system found that the software helped them perform better estimates.

Of course, as one participant noted, it’s possible that the people who use estimating software are more meticulous in their data entry by nature. However the strong correlation between estimating software and effectiveness suggests that having an automated system at hand improves your ability to estimate.

There were also some interesting findings about how accurate your estimating data is and the method used. As an example, participants that use an estimating program reported that they underbid projects only 5 percent of the time. Meanwhile, companies that rely on spreadsheets report that they underbid roughly 15 percent of the time.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the results of our survey, please visit our website where we are hosting the results at: 2012 ConstructionEstimatingBenchmarkReport.

It’d be great if you can share your thoughts on whether these findings match your own experience as well. Also, if you have a tip to offer others in the industry, please share that as well.”

Guest Post: Sarah Smith – legal assistant at Wolfe Law Group, LLC

It’s been seven years since devastating Hurricane Katrina destructed the City of New Orleans, and in that time the city has joined together to move forward in a positive direction to help rebuild the historical attraction. The pride and persistence of the residents have kept the city alive, and their determination has not gone unnoticed. FEMA has granted New Orleans $40 million to continue its transformation to a restored city. The grant has been allocated towards roadways in New Orleans and surrounding areas, New Orleans Museum of Art, LSPCA, Youth City Center, LSU Health Sciences Center, and LSU School of Dentistry. The bulk of the grant will go towards the Morris F.X. Jeff Municipal Auditorium in which significant damage to the electrical and mechanical systems, floors, walls, and seats will be repaired.  This city has proven to stay confident and resilient through difficult times, and such a grant will add to the city’s positive focus. If you would like to find more information about the breakdown of allocations, check out Nola.com’s article.

Eviction proceedings are ones that are considered summary proceedings here in Louisiana. These are ones that can be conducted much faster than an ordinary proceeding. See La C.C.P. art. 2591. Unfortunately this is not always the case and the Judge may use his discretion to retard the progress of the action.

Depending on the type of lease that Landlord and Tenant will determine how the lease may be terminated and eviction proceeding started. Termination of a lease is governed by La C.C.P. art. 4701 et seq. A helpful aspect for a Landlord to put into his lease, is that La C.C.P. art. 4701 notice is waived, therefore the Landlord will be able to institute eviction proceedings immediately upon default or termination of the lease.

The law has specific definitions for all the parties involved with a lease and eviction. These definitions are spelled out in the code at La C.C.P. art 4704. Terms such as Lease, Lessee, Lessor, Occupant, Owner and Premises are literally spelled out by the code. This is helpful to determine who the parties are.

If the Landlord is awarded possession of the premises by a court, and the tenant does not remove itself from the premises, then a Warrant will be issued to have the sheriff remove the tenant from the premises. This is a very serious penalty. See La C.C.P. arts 4731 and 4733 for more on this procedure.

Landlord / Tenant relationships can be very frictional at times. Most of the time the parties get along and there are not issues. In the small majority of the time where there are disputes, the lease will control. Further, the eviction proceeding is where the parties will have their day in court. I have dealt with a number of lease disputes here recently, and none are easy by the time they get to me. Its important to have a good working lease and take into account the rules to get the tenant out.

Since the state owns the land, there are no security devices, such as a lien that can attach to the land and call for its foreclosure in the event of default or non-payment. Therefore the state has come up with its own security device to give contractors and laborers a way to collect when not receiving payment.  Here we have the Louisiana coined term: Sworn Statement of Amount Due. La. R.S. §38:2242. This document needs to be filed by the subcontractor or laborer within 45 days of when the work was accepted by the government body overseeing the project. Id.

One way for a contractor who has a sub on any tier below it to cancel the Sworn Statement of Amount Due filed, is to “bond off” the lien. La R.S. §38:2242.2. This mechanism allows for the higher tier contractor to provide security or cash at an amount 125% of the total lien. Id. At this juncture the property will be clear but there will be evidence of the bonded off lien still held with the parish mortgage office. This is pretty common practice so that higher tier companies keep the bond free while settling disputes with subs.

If at the end of the 45 day window from the state agency signing off on full completion of the project there are still any claims remaining as unpaid, then the state, claimants, or contractors may file a concursus proceeding to have the funds distributed into the registry of the court so that the parties can fight about who deserves the funds. La R.S. §38:2243. Any party may file this action, and its a very powerful tool. This is why many of the contractors will use the mechanism to “bond off” the claims, so as to prevent this process.

Finally, every parties favorite section is where attorney fees are awarded. In the Public Works Act, by statute attorney fees are permissible. This gives all parties the confidence to fight thinking that they will recover the fees. Unfortunately, recovery of attorney fees is still a difficult chore even when there is a statute. Here, La R.S. §38:2246 allows for attorney fees to any claimant who timely and properly filed its claim and recovers the full amount of the claim asserted. The reason for the emphasis in the proceeding sentence, is due to the difficulty of getting exactly what you swore was due. Claimants should be as accurate as possible when asserting claims, otherwise this statute will not apply.

The above are just a few of the many nuances contained and embedded in the Louisiana Public Works Act. Each step of the process should be carefully traversed so that the contractor does not lose rights to collect if/when the general contractor or public entity runs out of funding.

The Louisiana Private Works Act codified in La. R.S. §9:4801 et seq., is the origin of the rules which govern construction liens for private projects in this state. The specific statue that allows for an individual to request a Court to order the Clerk of Court to cancel a lien is La. R.S. §9:4833. The statute reads in pertinent part:

If a statement of claim or privilege is improperly filed or if the claim or privilege preserved by the filing of a statement of claim or privilege is extinguished, an owner or other interested person may require the person who has filed a statement of the claim or privilege to give a written request for cancellation in the manner provided by law directing the recorder of mortgages to cancel the statement of claim or privilege from his records.” La. R.S. §9:4833(A).

The best part about this statute is that if all of the proper notice requirements are followed and the illegal lien is not removed from the mortgage records by other means than this Mandamus proceeding, the property owner who brings the Mandamus suit is entitled to attorney fees and costs. This is huge because, this type of proceeding can cost a homeowner thousands just in legal fees. Here at Wolfe Law Group, we charge a flat rate of $3,500 for this type of proceeding, which covers all things from notices, to the actual Mandamus suit, to the trial.

Liens can be very technical and there are many instances where the letter of the law is not followed. In those instances, an owner can have the lien removed and even against the will of the party who filed the lien. As a contractor, filing a lien is very important to preserve rights against parties it did not contract with who may be liable for payment. Here at Wolfe Law Group we file liens all the time, but if your are like most contractors, funds are short and hiring an attorney can be too costly. Companies like Zlien.com are excellent resources for all things related to liens. Fortunately for lawyers and unfortunately for services like Zlien.com, enforcement of a lien and/or a Mandamus suit for removal of an illegal lien can only be filed by an attorney (or individual if self represented). I recently posted a Petition for Mandamus recently drafted and filed by Wolfe Law Group on JDSupra.com.

Bottom line: owners should file suit to have illegal liens removed from the mortgage records. If not then selling or refinancing the property will be impossible with the cloudy title. If you file suit and receive a judgment then you will be entitled to attorney fees and costs, which are provided by statute.

The ordinance is best described by the City Council’s own publication:

“The Council adopted Ordinance Cal. No. 28,899, authored by Council Vice President Granderson that requires that contractors and subcontractors with city construction contracts of more than $50,000 report to the City Attorney any current company violations of federal, state and municipal laws that govern labor and employment. Specifically, the contractor is required to give notice to the City Attorney within 90 days of the issuance of any labor violation determination. If the contractor fails to correct the violation within a 90 day period the City Attorney will issue a written notice to the contractor and take enforcement action including civil remedies.”

There are many supporters and critics of the new ordinance. Many of the opponents say that it will just create needless paper work for contractors and will not solve the root cause of the problem. Although, supports say that since Katrina undocumented workers have been hurting union workers doing it by the book. The New Orleans City Business and NOLA.com both have their takes on the issue with good write ups. Overall this sounds like it will create more paper work for contractors and subject them to vague and ambiguous labor laws (where they are already subject to them anyway).

Having dealt with the City Attorney’s office in the past, this seems like it will simply be a bullet in its gun when going after small businesses. The city claims that if contractors are obeying the law they have nothing to worry about, unfortunately based on past client experiences, that is not likely the case. Just what the construction industry needs right now, another law.

Back in 2008, along with major sections of the U.S. economy, the U.S. housing market tanked. This was a terrible time for home builders and most contractors in the industry. There was a ripple effect that was felt industry wide. Signs of the the rebound have been few and far between. We are now one quarter deep into 2012 and there are a few positive signs that the end of the drought may be near.

Just last week CNN reported very good numbers for building permits nation wide. According to the article, new home building permits are up from month to month and a large amount from this time last year. There is also an increase in the number of new apartment / condo permits that are being requested nationwide. The article stated that major contractors and home suppliers are seeing increases in stock value and revenue stream.  Some sites like yahoo.com published a Reuters article stating that there is a “housing comeback.”

A wide range of cities nation wide are reporting similar findings, such as Portland, Oregon and Dayton, Ohio. If this trend keeps up there is a good chance that the housing market will rebound and home sales will start to improve.

There are many types of leases out there and it is very important to know the difference and to make sure that you have the power or at least have a fair shake. There are residential, commercial, industrial, green, month-to-month, oral, and a host of others. Just as in any legal contract, the devil is in the details.

I have clients who have disputes over 30 year commercial leases all the way down to those with month-to-month residential leases and the key to successfully getting what you want is to anticipate any issues when drafting the lease and before it is executed.

The Louisiana Civil Code has an entire section on leases which starts with article 2668. The State of Louisiana publishes this helpful brochure for parties to a lease.

There are a number of hot button topics contained in leases, such as notice clauses, termination clauses, lessor responsibilities, lessee responsibilities and duty clauses. If the lease is silent to such matters then the Civil Code will govern. This may or may not be favorable to your position.

I write this blog article because I see so many disputes out there when it comes to leases. As with all contracts (and medicine) an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If you get your documents reviewed before entering into them, you will be in a much better position if a dispute arises.

The most telling aspect of McCollam’s piece is how he sees, and how it is apparent to New Orleans residents, that the attitude and culture of business has changed. Hurricane Katrina helped to rid the city of the negative attitude and filled it with a group of forward thinking resilient entrepreneurs who want to make a difference, while at the same time making a dollar.

One of the more colorful excerpts from McCollam’s article addresses the problem with the former attitude of the city,

“We had found the root of the problem.” It’s a problem that New Orleans seems to have overcome in the years since Hurricane Katrina—so much so that Mr. Williamson can now afford a little levity.

Other positive organizations that are helping to aid in business growth and entrepreneurial spirit include the New Orleans Startup Fund. This all ties into constructionlawmonitor.com because, NOLA startup fund recently picked Zlien.com as one of its featured start up companies to help grow and become a successful New Orleans and nation-wide company. Zlien.com was founded by Wolfe Law Group founder, Scott G. Wolfe, Jr. Scott is the embodiment of the Wall Street Journal article and the national focus on our great city.

The winds of change are among us here in New Orleans and its a great time to live in this city. McCollum points out that Forbes and Inc.com have recently coined New Orleans as a harbor for business growth and young talent. Only time will tell how this will change this city, but it will be a fun ride nonetheless.

A lot of our family, friends and colleagues have had a very difficult half-decade. Hurricane Katrina’s effects are fading, but they aren’t gone. Just from my own personal experience in the legal profession, I can see the storm’s impact lingering as the subject of on-going litigation.

The city is, however, making it along. And I feel quite lucky to have a great staff, great clients and great family and friends, who without which, Wolfe Law Group could not be the success it is today. Thanks to all of you.

Click on any photo in the main window to see description. For great professional photos, see this story from Boston.com.

What can we say, being from New Orleans with the Saints as the reigning champions has us all excited about the 2010 NFL Football Season. That’s why we’ve gotten together with our friends at Zlien and set up an NFL Fantasy Football League through Yahoo!

And we’re inviting participation from our clients, colleagues, readers and friends. To sign up, just click on this link and set up your team. You will need to know the password, and the password is “construction.”

I must warn you….the Wolfe Law Group staff not only knows the law, we know football. So be prepared to lose.

Matt DeVries of the Best Practices Construction Law Blog is one of the editors for the document, and he posted about the release of the 2009 Construction Law Update on his blog here. If you’d like to get your paws on a copy of the publication, you can email him.

A big thanks to Matt for contacting me to contribute the Louisiana update for the publication.

What’s new in Louisiana? Check out the PDF of the Louisiana portion of the Construction Law Update here.

A native Virginian, John has lived in the four corners of the country and just completed a three-year stay in the crescent city where he attended law school, and recently worked for Wolfe Law Group as a legal clerk.

John is returning home to the D.C. area this summer to take the Maryland bar, and open his own practice in the state. We’re very happy for his success at Loyola, and while disappointed he’ll no longer be working with us everyday, very excited for his future in law.

Congrats and Good Luck!

Since we love Daylite so much, you can expect we were tickled pink when they selected our firm for a case study. It was announced on their blog here.

You can click here to check out the Wolfe Law Group case study. They even say great things and show a great picture of our office pups, Oscar.

Before logging into our admin page, I stumbled upon another businesses FB page and saw the “become a fan” button replaced with “like.”. It confused me for a few seconds, but then I just passed it off as someone knowing a little more than me about Facebook, and knowing how to change the call to action on the fan pages.

Low and behold the change was made on my page, too…and system wide.

With all of this said, let’s take this Facebook change our for a spin. No need to become a fanatic for Wolfe Law Group or anything. After all, we’re just a law firm. Borrrr-ing.

But, you can at least like what we do, eh? That ain’t so hard.

http://fb.wolfelaw.com

We apologize for these problems.

Our tech folks assure us that the issues has been resolved.

The Chinese Drywall problem, however, presents a lot of practical and scientific challenges. As engineers scratch the surface of these claims, they find more and more questions about the drywall and its damages.

Scott Wolfe has presented to the Louisiana Engineering Society and the American Society of Civil Engineers on precisely these questions, and specifically to answer this question: What Are You Looking For?

Scott’s presentation breaks down the search into three categories:

(1) Is it There? This is the most basic question posed to engineers; simply determining whether the home does or does not have contaminated drywall.

(2) How Deep Are The Damages? This question inquires as to just how deep into the home the damages go. Does it affect the wiring? Does it affect the building studs? Not only does this have relevance to the next category of inquiry, but is also has relevance to determine who is liable for the losses. A prime example of how this affects liability concerns builders and the New Home Warranty Act. If the damages go so deep as to create a structural defect, the NHWA will have broader applicability.

(3) What Type of Damages and How To Remediate. The final question requires determination of how to fix the problems, and to identify what type of damages the problem caused.

Here is the Keynote presentation used during these talks, brought to you by SlideShare:

Here’s a screen shot from our moment of fame:

The presentation summary is as follows:

Slides from presentation given to the Washington Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division at their Express CLE #13 in Bremerton, WA. The presentation focused on the problems attorneys face when trying to reconcile ethic rules with how they use the Internet. The presentation reviews rules pre-existing the web, and how they may be applied to web situations, as well as new rules passed in states like Louisiana, Florida and New York that specifically address the Internet.

View the slideshow at SlideShare.net here. We’ve also embedded it below.

I’m happy to report that the Toolkit’s availability has really opened up. How open? Well, you can view or download the book for free at the Legal Content site, JDSupra. Go ahead and peruse the book over there for free by clicking here.

If you’re itching to get a hard-copy of the publication, it’s still available at Lulu.com. The cost for the hard-copy has dropped to just $15.00. If you come by the New Orleans office on Prytania Street, I can provide you a copy for free.

What’s in the collections toolkit? The formal book summary is as follows:

A manual for use by contractors of all sizes to learn about the collections process and help them develop good collection practices. The toolkit includes: (a) a summary of collection laws; (b) common collection mistakes and pitfalls; (c) common construction contract provisions to avoid overdue accounts; (d) collection letter templates; (e) when its time to hire an attorney; and (f) guide to litigating a collection action. The toolkit focuses on Louisiana laws and forms.

Not only does the book provide raw explanations of laws applicable to contractors in collecting amounts due, it also provides you with useful forms including a generic collection letter, a demand for payment on NSF Checks and a mechanics lien.