Werge Law represented an individual who starting a real estate investment business by purchasing a duplex in Denver. She entered into an agreement with a contractor to build a fence at the property and complete other odd jobs – and received a bid to complete the work within a few short weeks at a firm price of $3,500.
Three months later, she discovered the project was far from complete and that the work had caused damage to her property. She terminated the contractor, and had to hire a brand new company to re-do the entire project. She was willing to chalk up the money she paid as a business loss, but she also wanted to make sure it was known that the original contractor did not do good work. She posted a 1-star review of the contractor’s work on Yelp, explaining the difficulties she experienced.
After apparently discovering the negative review, the contractor retaliated by filing a mechanic’s liens against the property in the excessive amount of $75,000. He did so without providing her any notice, and despite the fact that our client had paid every single invoice he ever sent her. Our client only discovered the liens when she later found herself in the process of refinancing the property. The liens scuttled her hopes of obtaining the new loan. She then hired Werge Law to help.
We attempted to negotiate with the contractor prior to moving forward with the lawsuit to remove the liens. But when the contractor refused, we filed suit in Denver District Court and asserted claims for the fraudulent liens and for the damages incurred by our client. And we were able to chalk up an early win on a motion for judgment on the pleadings to get the mechanic’s liens released in their entirety. We then proceeded to a damages hearing and were able to obtain a judgment in our client’s favor for nearly $30,000, which included all attorneys’ fees incurred. We have since been able to recover money from the contractor through garnishments, but most importantly, after the liens were removed, our client was able to complete the refinance of the property and get back to her real estate business.