Miller Starr Regalia

When it involves being paid for services rendered, the construction trades occupy a preferred position in our society. From the beginning, the California Constitution has nurtured those who contribute their labor and materials to construction projects, by providing them with rights to impose a lien against the property benefited by their labor and materials. The mechanics’ lien is a form of “super” lien, because its priority dates not from time of recordation but rather relates back to the time when work physically commenced on the project. Over the years, the Legislature has sustained and expanded this constitutional protection through legislation dealing not only with mechanics’ liens, but also related remedies, such as the right to attach construction loan funds (stop notice) and recourse to
sureties (payment bonds).

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