FLSA...an overtime trap for the unwary! How to protect yourself.

The FLSA wage overtime laws require employers to pay time and one half of an employee’s regular wages for any hours worked in excess of 40 hours in any given week. Mistakes can easily be made by compa...

Are you exempt from overtime wage requirements under the FLSA? Follow up:

Are you exempt from the overtime wage requirements of the FLSA?
Check out Rodriguez v. Home Heroes, LLC
In follow up to our last post regarding employer liability for overtime wages under the Fair Lab...

Do you have employees who work overtime? Better know the FLSA!

Employees for construction companies are not exempt from the service establishment exemption from overtime compensation.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) 29 U.S.C. 207 requires that employees must...

Why is Alternative Dispute Resolution a good idea?

Because it is significantly cheaper than court based litigation.
Unless you are dealing with a claim that involves damages in the six figures, the cost of litigation may be more than the value of the...

Alternative Dispute Resolution, Alternative to what?

. . . . .Alternative to spending lots of money and relying on a decision mechanism that involves people you’ve never met, who don’t know you and know very little about your case.
The traditional mode...

The Right to Repair Act: Part 3 Summary of the law

Contractor’s decision not to repair or pay: If the contractor provides a statement to the claimant that it will not proceed with the work, the claimant may bring legal action without further notice, e...

The Right to Repair Act: Part 2 Summary of the Law

Access for inspection requested by the contractor: If the contractor requests an inspection, the claimant shall provide access to the site within 30 days of receiving the contractor’s request. The con...

The Right to Repair Act: Part 1 Summary of the law

The Resolution of Construction Defects Act, O.C.G.A. § 8-2-35, et seq, otherwise known as the Right to Repair Act, was enacted in 2004 to provide a legal mechanism for homeowners to resolve constructi...

Drafting an effective contract: A road map for the parties....

Drafting an effective contract means 1) drafting an enforceable contract; 2) drafting a contract that is specific as to the work to be completed (scope of work); 3) drafting a contract that sets fort...

Liquidated Damages: What are they, how are they used and are they enforceable?

Liquidated damages is a specific sum of money agreed to by the parties to a contract as the amount of damages to be recovered in the event of a breach of the contract. A liquidated provision in a cont...

Contractor’s claim against the owner, what are your damages?

Damages recoverable from a breach of contract are those damages which arise naturally and in the usual course of things from the breach of contract. O.C.G.A. § 13-6-2 The damages must be foreseeable b...

Collection Targets other than the lien foreclosure property

If you are traveling down the lien foreclosure road, you will have obtained a judgment against the party with whom you contracted, whether that is a contractor one tier up or the owner. Either way, th...

Lien filing, perfection and foreclosure...what’s the real point?

Let’s say you have jumped through all of the lien hoops: filing the lien, filing and winning the suit against the contractor to perfect lien and filing and winning the foreclosure suit on the lien so...

Contractor Licensing Issues Part 2

What if you are working as a contractor on a residential project and part of the job (for example, concrete work, drywall, rough framing) doesn’t require a contractor’s license under O.C.G.A. § 43-41-...

Licensing Issues and Contract Enforceability

Under Georgia law, if a contractor is not licensed for the type or scope of project contracted for, they cannot recover under the contract, either in law (breach of contract) or in equity (quantum mer...

Payment Bond Claims on Public Works Projects

As an alternative to materialman lien claims, which are not allowed on public works projects, Georgia
law requires general contractors to obtain a payment bond on any public works project worth more t...

The Lien Foreclosure Complaint...what to include?

In pleading your foreclosure complaint, there are certain elements you must include.
If you've gotten this far in the process, chances are you are using the services of a lawyer. So this entry is gear...

The Lien Foreclosure action. What is it and what does it get you?

The Lien Foreclosure Action: Once your claim of lien has been filed, the suit to perfect the lien has been timely filed and you have won your suit against the contractor (or entity with whom you had t...

The Contract Description of Work... why it needs to be specific

A while back, I wrote about what needs to be included in an effective contract. Included in that list was an accurate and specific description of the work to be completed.
The other day, I received a...

My lien is filed...now what do I do?

Once the claim of lien has been filed, the next step in the process is called the "perfection of the lien." The perfection of the lien involves filing suit and recovering against the party with whom...

Go CSI on it!!!

I've been watching a lot of CSI lately. I like how the investigators piece together seemingly random bits of forensic evidence to solve the crime. You might be wondering, what the heck this has to do...

You’ve filed your lien, what to look for next...Part 2

Another option available to the general contractor or property owner once a claim of lien has been filed is to “bond off the lien” by posting a lien release bond. Posting a lien release bond has the e...

You’ve filed your lien, what to look for next!!

Once a claim of lien has been filed, the owner/general contractor has a couple of options that will change the time limitations applicable to the lien filer.
One option is to file a notice of contest...

Lien Filing...The When...

The claim of lien must be filed in the county where the property is located with the clerk of superior court. In many counties, the superior court clerk has a real estate division where the lien shoul...

Lien Filing...The When...

A claim of lien must be filed within 90 days of the last date labor or materials were provided to the project subject to the lien. O.C.G.A. § 44-14-361.1(a)(2). In computing the 90 day period, if the...

The Contractor's Affidavit... Ahh, so you HAVE been paid!

A contractor’s affidavit is a sworn statement by a contractor (defined not to include a subcontractor) or an owner that the full contract price has been paid and that all subcontractors and material s...

Lien Waivers and Lien Discharge Bonds

If a lien waiver is filed after a bond to discharge lien has been filed, the lien waiver does not waive the lien claimant’s claim against the lien discharge bond. See Benning Construction Co. v. All-...

Lien Waivers: What they don't release...

While a lien waiver waives the lien as to the property on which the improvements have been made, it does not release the contractor from its obligations to the lien claimant. See David Shapiro & Co....

Lien Waivers: Show Me The Money!

The lien waiver statute O.C.G.A.§ 44-14-366(b)(2) provides that a lien can’t be waived unless: 1) a waiver and release form has been completed by the lien claimant (covered in the last blog entry), an...

Lien Waivers: Form is the Function

Lien waivers under Georgia law are controlled by O.C.G.A section 44-14-366.
A lien can’t be waived unless: 1) a waiver and release form has been completed by the lien claimant; and 2) the lien claiman...

Lien Language Part 2

The contents of the lien are controlled by Georgia Law. O.C.G.A. § 44-14-361.1(a)(2) This code section sets forth a statutory model for the language required to be included in the lien. A checklist...

Preparing the lien, what language needs to be included:

The contents of the lien are controlled by Georgia Law. O.C.G.A. § 44-14-361.1(a)(2) This code section sets forth a statutory model for the language required to be included in the lien. An example...

Using the Retrospectroscope to draft your contract

The retrospectroscope provides a perfect 20/20 hindsight vision. If you had known what was going to happen, you could have reacted and done things differently. Let me suggest that’s the way you shoul...

What kinds of jobs can you lien?

Generally, you can file a claim of lien on any private construction project where the person authorizing the work has a legal interest in the real property on which the improvements are being made. I...

What you need before the lien... a Contract.

Before you can file a claim of lien (in order to lien real estate on which the work is completed) there must be a contract for the work in question and the owner of the real estate (or real property i...

What is a Notice of Commencement and Notice to Contractor and when do they apply to me?

If you are working as a subcontractor and don't have a direct contract with the general contractor the filing of a Notice of Commencement on a project will affect your lien rights.
What is a Notice of...

Materialman Liens: Why are you filing and what are you filing?

What you are filing initially, is a claim of lien. It’s not a lien until you recover on the underlying claim (the amount of money you are owed) giving rise to the claim of lien. Recovering your mone...

Just What We Need! Another Blog!

Actually, I think we do! While there is a lot of information on the internet addressing complicated legal issues on complicated construction projects, there isn't much information out there addressing...