You feel that you practice very pro-active lien prevention procedures. On this project you received material men's notices from your fire protection subcontractor. Each month you received proper conditional lien releases. At the completion of the job you received an unconditional lien release and exchanged it for the fire protection subcontractor's retention check. One month later you received word that a lien has been filed by a third tier piping supplier from out of state for material they supplied to a piping fabricator for your subcontractor. You did not know this third tier supplier existed. You paid the fire protection subcontractor, the subcontractor paid their pipe fabricator, but the fabricator did not pay the pipe supplier. The amount in question is $40,000. How did this happen?

How can it be resolved most easily?

What is the correct and legal resolution? Is the lien valid?

Can the supplier legally remove the pipe?

What does the client do now?

How are liens removed?

What should you do in the future to prevent this from happening?