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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black">Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal issued the attached decision this morning in
<u>Snell v. Mott’s Contracting Services, Inc.</u>, regarding construction claims of lien and arbitration proceedings. The court held that Section 713.21(1) requires that an “action to enforce a construction lien must be brought ‘in a court of competent jurisdiction’
within one year of recording the claim of lien or it automatically extinguishes” and that an arbitration proceeding is not a “court.” The court also held that the “the lien became unenforceable pursuant to section 713.22 prior to the issuance of the [arbitration]
award” due to the contractor’s failure to file an enforcement action in court.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black">Much thanks to Matt Belcastro for bringing this decision to the attention of the Construction Law Committee.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><img width="190" height="53" id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.png@01CF7504.3A39F6F0" alt="Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, P.A."></span></b><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br>
</span></b><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Hardy L. Roberts</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br>
Attorney at Law<br>
Board Certified by the Florida Bar in Construction Law<span style="font-variant:small-caps"><br>
</span>4221 W. Boy Scout Blvd., Ste. 1000<br>
Tampa, Florida 33607-5780 <br>
Direct: 813.229.4105 | Fax: 813.229.4133<br>
<br>
<a href="mailto:HRoberts@cfjblaw.com"><span style="color:blue">HRoberts@cfjblaw.com</span></a> | <a href="http://www.cfjblaw.com/"><span style="color:blue">www.CFJBLaw.com</span></a>
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