General

Contractor may take legal action against property owner

Whenever a construction project is undertaken, there are potentially many parties involved. In the course of completing that project it is possible that any of the participants could find that they are involved in a dispute with another party. While in a recent post we discussed the possibility of a property owner taking legal action against contractors and others responsible for doing the work, it can work the opposite way—contractors may file a lawsuit against property owners as well.

This is illustrated in the action a Florida contractor recently took against several hotels, previously owned by the same man, located both in Florida as well as Illinois. The contractor filed liens and is pursuing foreclosure against the hotels. The action was taken because the contractor claims that it was not paid $2.6 million it is owed for the work it did on a hotel in Illinois. The hotels’ former owner is accused of, and has been arrested for, loan fraud.

A court-appointed receiver has taken over the hotels and is trying to sell them.

Property owners expect contractors to hold up their end of a bargain. Likewise, contractors expect the same from property owners. If a contractor is not compensated for its work it is possible that it may seek what is owed via this method.

It is usually wise for businesses engaging in contracts with other entities to seek the assistance of a lawyer. When large amounts of money are on the line it is even more important to do this. While it is unclear whether the contractor will recover anything via its action, it is likely it has a lawyer helping to determine the best cour se of action.

Mon Aug 27, 2:26pm