SECOND MECHANIC’S LIEN MAY BE FILED TO CORRECT THE NAMING OF THE WRONG CONTRACTOR IN THE FIRST LIEN (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court’s discharge of a mechanic’s lien, noted that the filing of a second mechanic’s lien to correct a mistake (i.e., naming the wrong party) would be timely as long as the statute of limitations had not run at the time the second lien was filed. In this case, the general contractor’s motion for summary judgment should have been denied because ITS motion papers did not indicate when the statute of limitations began to run:

A public improvement mechanic’s lien may be filed “[a]t any time before the construction or demolition of a public improvement is completed and accepted by the . . . public corporation, and within thirty days after such completion and acceptance” (Lien Law § 12). “Such authority would seem to include the right to file a second lien within the time so provided, at least to cure an irregularity in a lien first filed, or to reassert a lien when the prior one has been lost by delay in its enforcement” … . ” The significant date in section 12 of the Lien Law is the completion and acceptance by the public corporation. The requirement is in the conjunctive and both branches must be met . . . before the time starts running'” … . “Both these requirements, completion and acceptance, are usually questions of fact” … . Munoz Trucking Corp. v Darcon Constr., Inc., 2017 NY Slip Op 06283, Second Dept 8-23-17

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