Construction Law

Idle Equipment not entitled to Lien in Missouri

By Werner Sabo

A Missouri court has affirmed a trial court ruling in favor of a lien claimant, but at an amount reduced by the trial court to reflect the value of the idle time for the equipment. Missouri Land Development v. Concord, 269 S.W.3d 489 (Mo.App. E.D., 2008).

The bank, that had a competing interest, challenged the award, claiming that the entire lien should have been disallowed because the claim for lien was not a "just and true account" of the amount owed since it included the non-lienable idle time. On the other hand, the contractor argued that the idle time should have been counted as "labor." Both arguments were rejected by the court.

Full post as published by Construction Attorney Blog on April 20, 2009 (boomark / email).