{"id":942,"date":"2012-07-23T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-23T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/index.php\/2012\/07\/23\/rhode-island-continues-strict-interpretation-of-mechanics-lien-law\/"},"modified":"2012-07-23T14:30:00","modified_gmt":"2012-07-23T14:30:00","slug":"rhode-island-continues-strict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html","title":{"rendered":"Rhode Island Continues Strict Interpretation of Mechanics Lien Law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> In the recent matter of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;frm=1&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;ved=0CI0BEBYwAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.courts.ri.gov%2FCourts%2FSupremeCourt%2FOpinions%2F11-140.pdf&amp;ei=MyAIUMeILsXm0QGfjN3TAw&amp;usg=AFQjCNGoidKqsGLm3OS-vWJiYm3T7lOV3w\"><i>GSM Industrial v. Grinnell Fire Protection Systems<\/i><\/a>, the Rhode Island Supreme Court was called upon to interpret the Rhode Island mechanics lien law.&nbsp;A vendor from Pennsylvania recorded a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/rhode-island-faq.asp\">Rhode Island mechanics lien notice<\/a> but failed to sign it under oath as required by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/rhode-island-property-lien-statutes.asp\">Rhode Island&nbsp;lien law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The court began its decision by stating that &#8220;This case requires us to don our miner\u2019s helmets and once again descend into the subterranean labyrinth that is the Rhode Island mechanic\u2019s-lien statute. The statute attempts to strike a delicate balance between the rights of contractors, craftsmen, artisans, and furnishers of materials on the one hand and often innocent landowners on the other when a general contractor, hired by the landowner, fails to pay its subcontractors. These circumstances result in a lien created in favor of the subcontractor that is imposed on the landowner\u2019s property without a hearing and with minimal due process.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In the matter before the court,&nbsp;<span style=\"font-size: small;\">GSM Industrial, Inc., was a subcontractor that entered into an agreement with AirPol, Inc., a general contractor, to install an air-pollution-control mechanism on property owned by the defendant, Grinnell Fire Protection Systems Company, Inc. When AirPol failed to pay GSM the balance of its fee, GSM filed a mechanics lien claim and later a complaint to enforce&nbsp;its mechanic\u2019s lien against Grinnell. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">The particular issue before the court was&nbsp;whether a notarial acknowledgment in a subcontractor\u2019s notice of intention satisfies <span style=\"font-size: small;\">the statutory requirement that such a statement be &#8220;under oath.&#8221;&nbsp;The&nbsp;Rhode Island trial court&nbsp;ruled that a Pennsylvania notary public\u2019s &#8220;acknowledgement&#8221; was insufficient to satisfy the oath requirement, and, as a result, the notice was fatally defective.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">The crux of the matter was whether GSM complied with the statutory requirements for executing a notice of intention to enforce a mechanic\u2019s lien. General Laws 1956 \u00a7 34-28-4(a). (the Rhode Island Supreme Court previously&nbsp;described the statute as &#8220;a single sentence of gargantuan length,&#8221; Faraone v. Faraone, 413 A.2d 90, 91 (R.I. 1980)). The statute &nbsp;sets forth a long series of prescriptions that control both the substance and procedure related to a notice of intention. <\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">The next section of the statute, \u00a7 34-28-4(b), addresses the contents of the notice and sets forth the six elements that every notice of intention must contain, requiring that&nbsp;&#8220;[t]he notice of intention shall be executed under oath&#8230;&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">GSM&nbsp;executed the notice in Pennsylvania. The notice\u2019s notarial clause states, in relevant part,&nbsp;&#8220;The foregoing instrument was <b>acknowledged<\/b> before me this 13<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">th <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">day of September, 2010&#8230;&#8221;<span style=\"font-size: small;\">&nbsp; <span style=\"font-size: small;\">The  primary bone of contention between the parties was whether the notice  of intention was executed &#8220;under oath&#8221; in satisfaction of \u00a7 34-28-4(b).  Grinnell argued that the notice contained an acknowledgement, not an  oath, noting in particular that the document included no variation of  the phrase &#8220;signed and sworn.&#8221; The court agreed, holding that an  acknowledgement was not an oath, and could not be interpreted as a sworn  oath.&nbsp; The acknowledgement was just a representation as to who was  signing it, rather than what Rhode Island mechanics lien law requires: a  statement that the document is sworn to under oath, which is in the  power of a notary to do.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><br \/><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><br \/><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">With that, the court dismissed the lien claim for failure to comply with the statute.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the recent matter of GSM Industrial v. Grinnell Fire Protection Systems, the Rhode Island Supreme Court was called upon to interpret the Rhode Island mechanics lien law.&nbsp;A vendor from Pennsylvania recorded a Rhode Island mechanics lien notice but failed to sign it under oath as required by the Rhode Island&nbsp;lien law. The court began [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1568,1567,1565,1306,1566],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rhode Island Continues Strict Interpretation of Mechanics Lien Law - Tools of the Trade | LienItNow Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the recent matter of GSM Industrial v. Grinnell Fire Protection Systems, the Rhode Island Supreme Court was called upon to interpret the Rhode Island\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rhode Island Continues Strict Interpretation of Mechanics Lien Law - Tools of the Trade | LienItNow Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the recent matter of GSM Industrial v. Grinnell Fire Protection Systems, the Rhode Island Supreme Court was called upon to interpret the Rhode Island\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tools of the Trade | LienItNow Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LienItNow\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/LienItNow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-07-23T14:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@lienitnow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@lienitnow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stephen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Stephen\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d4ad09932756b36935fd15ab497722fe\"},\"headline\":\"Rhode Island Continues Strict Interpretation of Mechanics Lien Law\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-23T14:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-07-23T14:30:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html\"},\"wordCount\":578,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"gsm industrial v. grinnell\",\"rhode island construction law\",\"rhode island construction lien\",\"rhode island mechanics lien\",\"rhode island supreme court decision\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html\",\"name\":\"Rhode Island Continues Strict Interpretation of Mechanics Lien Law - Tools of the Trade | LienItNow Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-23T14:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-07-23T14:30:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"In the recent matter of GSM Industrial v. Grinnell Fire Protection Systems, the Rhode Island Supreme Court was called upon to interpret the Rhode Island\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rhode Island Continues Strict Interpretation of Mechanics Lien Law\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Tools of the Trade | LienItNow Blog\",\"description\":\"Construction Lien News and Information from LienItNow.com\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Tools of the Trade | LienItNow Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-logo-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-logo-1.jpg\",\"width\":529,\"height\":100,\"caption\":\"Tools of the Trade | LienItNow Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LienItNow\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lienitnow\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/lienitnow.com\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCLbiOHgcanKx5TtfL6q_VUw\/videos\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d4ad09932756b36935fd15ab497722fe\",\"name\":\"Stephen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db4dcbefbed204d35217154b64af2ea9?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db4dcbefbed204d35217154b64af2ea9?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Stephen\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\",\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/LienItNow\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lienitnow\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/author\/stephen\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rhode Island Continues Strict Interpretation of Mechanics Lien Law - Tools of the Trade | LienItNow Blog","description":"In the recent matter of GSM Industrial v. Grinnell Fire Protection Systems, the Rhode Island Supreme Court was called upon to interpret the Rhode Island","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rhode Island Continues Strict Interpretation of Mechanics Lien Law - Tools of the Trade | LienItNow Blog","og_description":"In the recent matter of GSM Industrial v. Grinnell Fire Protection Systems, the Rhode Island Supreme Court was called upon to interpret the Rhode Island","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html","og_site_name":"Tools of the Trade | LienItNow Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LienItNow\/","article_author":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/LienItNow","article_published_time":"2012-07-23T14:30:00+00:00","author":"Stephen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@lienitnow","twitter_site":"@lienitnow","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Stephen","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html"},"author":{"name":"Stephen","@id":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d4ad09932756b36935fd15ab497722fe"},"headline":"Rhode Island Continues Strict Interpretation of Mechanics Lien Law","datePublished":"2012-07-23T14:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-07-23T14:30:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html"},"wordCount":578,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["gsm industrial v. grinnell","rhode island construction law","rhode island construction lien","rhode island mechanics lien","rhode island supreme court decision"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html","url":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html","name":"Rhode Island Continues Strict Interpretation of Mechanics Lien Law - Tools of the Trade | LienItNow Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-07-23T14:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-07-23T14:30:00+00:00","description":"In the recent matter of GSM Industrial v. Grinnell Fire Protection Systems, the Rhode Island Supreme Court was called upon to interpret the Rhode Island","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/rhode-island-continues-strict.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rhode Island Continues Strict Interpretation of Mechanics Lien Law"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/","name":"Tools of the Trade | LienItNow Blog","description":"Construction Lien News and Information from LienItNow.com","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Tools of the Trade | LienItNow Blog","url":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-logo-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-logo-1.jpg","width":529,"height":100,"caption":"Tools of the Trade | LienItNow Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LienItNow\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/lienitnow","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/lienitnow.com","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCLbiOHgcanKx5TtfL6q_VUw\/videos"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d4ad09932756b36935fd15ab497722fe","name":"Stephen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db4dcbefbed204d35217154b64af2ea9?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db4dcbefbed204d35217154b64af2ea9?s=96&r=g","caption":"Stephen"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com","https:\/\/facebook.com\/LienItNow","https:\/\/twitter.com\/lienitnow"],"url":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/author\/stephen"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}