California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA)

Although the CCTA is not a collection agency, we can guide our members with proper collection techniques, and lead them to the legal experts for advice and support in collection of past due money:

In our last article on collections, we discussed the filing of preliminary notices as your first step in properly document your legitimate claims to get paid when working with brokers or contractors. This time, I wanted to talk about the next step in this process, especially if your prelim failed and your customer doesn’t return your calls and refuses to pay.

Fill out a Stop Notice form. As you should know, the state changed all the Mechanics Lien forms effective July1, so make sure you are using the new forms.  You can find these free (English-only) forms on line at many legal firm web sites.  We recommend huntortmann.com, because they were involved in rewriting the law and they were kind enough to share their expertise with our members at our June 21 seminar on lien law.

Print the blank versions, fill it out correctly, double-check it and send it via certified, return receipt requested just like the prelim form to the same players involved on the project.
This form alerts owners and people paying your customer and stops funds from being distributed to your customer until the problem gets resolved. If you get their attention this way, make sure at this point you receive a cashier’s check to release the Stop Notice or if you get a company check, only release the stop notice when the check clears. Well that’s it for now stay tuned for our next step in collecting that money if stop notice fails.

Recommendation: Save your receipt showing that you paid for the certified mail. That is sufficient evidence of service. If you ask for a return receipt and the guys at the other end refuse to sign, the Post Office can and will provide written proof on request.  Keep the proof of notice declaration and attached documentation, if any, in a safe place. If you need to enforce your mechanic’s lien, stop notice or bond rights, you will need to prove that the Preliminary Notice was properly served.

From Hector Leon, Dirt Patrol
CCTA San Bernardino/Riverside Chapter Chairperson