DALY ALUMINUM PRODUCTS, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
ROBERT M. STOCKSLAGER AND MYRTLE R. STOCKSLAGER, HIS WIFE, APPELLEES
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A subcontractor seeks to enforce a mechanic's lien against property owners after the general contractor failed to pay it, despite receiving final payment. The court addresses whether notice to the owner under Florida's mechanic's lien statute becomes effective upon mailing or receipt, and whether notice served after project completion and owner payment but within 45 days of commencement is timely.
Notice under the mechanic's lien statute does not become effective until received by the owner. Receipt on the 46th day is timely because the 45th day fell on Sunday, following the same rule as in civil procedure rules that exclude Sunday. Notice served within 45 days of commencement, even after completion and owner payment to the general contractor, is timely and preserves the lien.
[1] Notice under the Mechanic's Lien Law is effective upon receipt, not upon mailing.
[2] When the last day for serving notice under the Mechanic's Lien Law falls on a Sunday, service is timely if received on the following Monday.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“notice as provided for in the statute cannot be effective until received”
Establishes that actual receipt, not mailing, is required for mechanic's lien notice to be effective under Florida law.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceDaly Aluminum Products, a subcontractor, performed work on the Stockslagers' property from June 6-24, 1968. The owners paid the general contractor on …
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The appellant is a subcontractor and was not in privity with the appellee-owner at *529the time the work was done by the subcontractor. Appellant commenced improvement on appellees’ property on June 6, 1968, and completed it on June 24, 1968. Appellees made final payment to the general contractor on July 24, 1968, and the subcontractor has never been paid.
On the forty-third day after commencement of the construction the subcontractor mailed by certified mail notice to the property owners that he had not been paid. The forty-fifth day was on Sunday and the notice was not delivered until the following Monday, which was the forty-sixth day.
Appellant asks this court to decide whether the notice of service to the owner in a mechanic’s lien case is completed upon mailing or upon receipt; and if service must be received before becoming effective will notice be effective when served on the forty-sixth day since the forty-fifth day fell on Sunday and no mails were delivered that day. They also pose the question of whether or not in a mechanic’s lien is notice to the owner timely served if served within forty-five days from the commencement and before the date of the contractor’s affidavit but served after the completion of the work and after the owner has paid the primary contractor.
Florida Statutes 713.18(1) (c), F.S.A. specifically says that notice shall be by one of the following methods: “By mailing the same, postage prepaid, by registered mail or certified mail * * * ” This particular provision of the Mechanic’s Lien Law has never been construed in Florida. We believe that notice as provided for in the statute cannot be effective until received. However, since the last day, the forty-fifth day as prescribed in the statute, fell on Sunday we further hold that the receipt of notice was timely since it was received on the forty-sixth day, the forty-fifth day being on Sunday. We arrive at this conclusion by comparing FRCP 1.090
(a), 30 F.S.A. and F.A.R. 3.18, 32 F.S.A. While we recognize the Mechanic’s Lien Law statute is silent in this regard it makes sense that the same construction be placed upon the statute as is laid down in the rules.
We pass now to the second point. Because the first point was answered -in the affirmative, the notice was timely served within the forty-five days from commencement of the improvements. The notice was served after completion of the improvements and after the owner had paid the primary contractor. It appears that the owner did not use the proper procedure to determine whether the subcontractor had been paid. The law provides that the general contractor shall furnish to the owner an affidavit that all subcontractors have been paid. He did furnish to the owner a statement saying that all had been paid or would be paid and then failed to pay the appellant, Daly Aluminum Products, which was a subcontractor.
We believe the trial court erred in its final judgment when it said: “The fact that the defendant in this case received a defective statement from the contractor is not controlling.” It seems to us that one of the . primary reasons for the Mechanic’s Lien Law is to prohibit what has happened to this subcontractor from happening. While the owner may be required to pay an additional sum to the subcontractor, he should have requested an affidavit from the contractor showing all subcontractors had been paid.
For these reasons we believe the trial judge erred and we remand with directions to enter final judgment consistent with this opinion.
Reversed and remanded.
PIERCE and MANN, JJ., concur.
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Stockslager v. Daly Aluminum Prods., Inc., 246 So. 2d 97 (Fla. 1971)…McCAIN, Justice. This cause is before us on petition for writ of certiorari to review a decision of the Second District Court of Appeal entered December 11, 1970, 244 So. 2d 528, wherein the District Court stated: “This particular provision of the Mechanic’s Lien Law has never been construed in Florida. We believe that notice as provided for in the statute cannot be effective until received. However, since the last day, th…
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Rite-Way Painting & Plastering, Inc. v. Williard Tetor and Velma Tetor, 582 So. 2d 15 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991)…hall run until the end of the next day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday. This court has previously applied rule 1.090 to compute the period for service of a notice of mechanic’s lien. See Daly Aluminum Products, Inc. v. Stockslager, 244 So. 2d 528 (Fla. 2d DCA 1970), cert. denied, 246 So. 2d 97 (Fla.1971). Here, because December 31st was a Saturday and January 2nd was the New Year’s Day holiday, the last day for proper service was Tuesday, January 3, 1989. Finding that Rite-Way’s notice to o…
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Stunkel v. Gazebo Landscaping Design, Inc., 660 So. 2d 623 (Fla. 1995)…) (forty-five-day period ran from when unassembled parts were furnished to a job site, not when the parts were assembled into a working crane several months later), review denied, 525 So. 2d 878 (Fla.1988); Daly Aluminum Prods., Inc. v. Stockslager, 244 So. 2d 528, 529 (Fla. 2d DCA 1970) (counting forty-five-day period from the day improvements began at the site), cert. denied, 246 So. 2d 97 (Fla.1971); see also 1 Stephen Rakusin, Florida Construction Lien Manual, Ch. 8.04F.1.b.(1) (1994) (“[T]he general rule…
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