City Electric Supply Co. v. Arch Insurance Co.
City Electric Supply Co. v. Arch Insurance Co.
Opinion
**784 In this case, we consider whether a claimant seeking to enforce a target lien bond by commencing a civil action pursuant to the mechanic's lien statute, G. L. c. 254, § 14, must record an attested copy of the complaint in the registry of deeds. We conclude that the lien statute contains no such requirement. A party seeking to enforce a target lien bond, a bond which has the effect of dissolving a mechanic's lien that has been placed on a property, need not record a copy of a complaint in the registry of deeds as a condition precedent to enforcing the bond.
**785 1. Background . The essential facts are undisputed. City Electric Supply Company, doing business as Concord Electric Supply, Ltd. (CES), supplied electrical materials for a construction project in Brookline to subcontractor Michael Franciosi, doing business as Electrical Professionals (Franciosi). In June 2016, CES perfected a mechanic's lien on the Brookline property by recording a notice of contract in the Norfolk County registry of deeds pursuant to G. L. c. 254, § 4 ; the notice indicated that Franciosi owed CES $ 283,056.54. Months later, Franciosi filed a suggestion of bankruptcy in the Superior Court.
On July 14, 2016, general contractor Tocci Building Corporation (Tocci) issued and recorded a "target lien bond," 2 pursuant to G. L. c. 254, § 14, in the amount of $ 283,056.54, the amount of the mechanic's lien that CES had created. The target lien bond listed the defendant, Arch Insurance Company (Arch), as surety, and was recorded in the Norfolk County registry of deeds.
In August, 2016, CES sought to enforce the target lien bond by filing a timely action against Franciosi and Arch in the Superior Court, pursuant to G. L. c. 254, § 14. CES properly served Franciosi and Arch. CES did not record a copy of its complaint in the registry of deeds within *738 thirty days of commencement of the action. 3
In March, 2017, Arch moved for summary judgment pursuant to Mass. R. Civ. P. 56,
Following a hearing, a Superior Court judge allowed Arch's **786 motion for summary judgment. The judge reasoned that G. L. c. 254, § 14, must be read in conjunction with "the detailed and precise requirements of [§] 5, which dictate the procedures for a lien enforcement action." As G. L. c. 254, § 5, requires that an attested copy of a complaint be recorded, the judge "reject[ed] [CES's] claim that because G. L. c. 254, § 14, is silent with respect to filing an attested copy of the complaint, it was excused from doing so within the thirty days of the commencement of the action as required by G. L. c. 254, § 5." CES filed a timely appeal. We allowed CES's petition for direct appellate review.
2.
Statutory scheme
. General Laws c. 254 "governs the creation, perfection, and dissolution of a mechanic's lien."
National Lumber Co
. v.
United Cas. & Sur. Ins. Co
.,
General Laws. c. 254 also "provides for prevention of future liens and dissolution of existing liens by the giving of a [lien] bond, which benefits ... anyone possessing an interest in that land ... by furnishing means to keep his title free from liens and preventing the sale of the land to satisfy a lien" (quotation omitted).
NES Rentals
v.
Maine Drilling & Blasting, Inc
.,
A mechanic's lien is created when a notice of contract is filed in the registry of deeds. See G. L. c. 254, § 4 ;
Tremont Tower Condominium, LLC
v.
George B.H. Macomber Co
.,
At the same time, statutory dissolution of a lien under G. L. c. 254, § 14, does not dissolve a claimant's ability to recover costs incurred "for labor or labor and materials that served as the basis of the lien."
NES Rentals
,
3. Discussion . As stated, this case concerns CES's efforts to enforce a target lien bond. As it did in the Superior Court, CES argues that it was not required, pursuant to G. L. c. 254, § 14, to record a copy of the complaint in the registry of deeds within **788 thirty days of commencing an action to enforce the bond. Accordingly, CES argues that the allowance of Arch's motion for summary judgment was error. We agree.
a.
Standard of review
. We review the allowance of a motion for summary judgment de novo. See
Miller
v.
Cotter
,
b.
Statutory interpretation
. "The starting point of our analysis is the language of the statute, 'the principal source of insight into Legislative purpose.' "
Simon
v.
State Examiners of Electricians
,
i.
Statutory language
. The plain language of G. L. c. 254, § 14 -- the statutory provision pursuant to which CES commenced its civil action -- contains no requirement that a claimant must record an attested copy of a complaint in order to enforce a target lien bond. This is in contrast to G. L. c. 254, § 12, which explicitly requires a party seeking to enforce a blanket lien bond to record a copy of the complaint in the registry of deeds. See G. L. c. 254, § 12 ("An attested copy of the complaint shall be filed and recorded in the registry of deeds"). General Laws c. 254, § 14, instead, provides simply that "[a]ny person in interest may dissolve a lien under this chapter by recording ... a bond of a surety company ... in a penal sum equal to the amount of the lien sought to be dissolved; and that "[u]pon the recording of the bond, the lien shall be dissolved." "Notice of the recording shall be given to the claimant by serving on the claimant a copy of the notice of recording together with a copy of the bond by an officer qualified to serve civil process or by delivering same to the claimant."
When interpreting the absence of language in an otherwise "detailed and precise [statute], we regard [an] omission as purposeful."
**789
Leary
v.
Contributory Retirement Appeal Bd
.,
By contrast, with regard to blanket lien bonds, G. L. c. 254, § 12, expressly requires that a complaint be recorded in the registry of deeds. As discussed, a blanket lien bond issued pursuant to G. L. c. 254, § 12, does not dissolve a lien but, rather, prevents future liens from attaching to a property. Because a blanket lien bond is issued before the conclusion of a construction project, it may comprise only a "person's fair estimate of the contract sum." See G. L. c. 254, § 12. As a result, subcontractors *741 and suppliers conceivably might record notices of contract on a project in amounts greater than the amount of a blanket lien bond, such that the blanket lien bond may prove insufficient to protect the property from becoming subject to a lien. Because a lien burdens the title of a property, potential purchasers and others retain an interest in knowing about suits to enforce blanket lien bonds that may fail to prevent liens from attaching to the property.
Arch argues that, in light of this court's obligation to read G. L. c. 254, § 14, alongside G. L. c. 254, § 5, which requires recording of a complaint in the context of a lien enforcement action, a claimant must record a complaint in order to enforce a target lien
**790
bond. As stated, G. L. c. 254, § 5, obliges a claimant seeking to enforce a lien to record an attested copy of its complaint "within thirty days of the commencement of the action, or such lien shall be dissolved." Thus, pursuant to G. L. c. 254, § 5
,
the recording of a complaint is one of several steps necessary to perfect a lien. See
National Lumber I
,
To be sure, "[w]hen the meaning of a statute is brought into question, a court properly should read other sections and should construe them together" (citation omitted).
LeClair
v.
Norwell
,
General Laws c. 254, § 5, provides that dissolution of a lien is a consequence of a plaintiff's failure to record a complaint to enforce the lien. In an action to enforce a target lien bond, however, the underlying lien already has been dissolved. Therefore, to ascribe to Arch's interpretation would be to render the phrase "or such lien shall be dissolved," G. L. c. 254, § 5, unnecessary surplusage in the context of a target lien bond enforcement action.
4
"[T]he canon against surplusage is strongest when an interpretation would render superfluous another part of the same statutory scheme."
Marx
v.
General Revenue Corp
.,
**791
ii.
Legislative history
. A review of the legislative history of G. L. c. 254 also supports our reading of the statute. "A fundamental principle of statutory interpretation is that a statute must be interpreted
*742
according to the intent of the Legislature ascertained from all its words construed by the ordinary and approved usage of the language, considered in connection with the cause of its enactment, the mischief or imperfection to be remedied and the main object to be accomplished, to the end that the purpose of its framers may be effectuated" (quotation and citation omitted).
Harvard Crimson, Inc
. v.
President & Fellows of Harvard College
,
The Legislature previously has considered and rejected language suggesting that G. L. c. 254, § 14, should be considered subject to all of the procedural requirements of G. L. c. 254, § 5. In 1973, the Legislature amended G. L. c. 254, § 14, as part of an effort to bring the General Laws into conformity with the then newly adopted rules of civil procedure and rules of appellate procedure. The year before, the Legislature had revised G. L. c. 254, § 14, to provide for a new cause of action to enforce target lien bonds, beyond the context of a suit under G. L. c. 254, § 5. See St. 1972, c. 774, § 10. Notwithstanding this then-recent adoption of the new cause of action, a 1973 Senate bill proposed the following language to bring G. L. c. 254, § 14, into conformity with the rules of civil procedure,
"Section 14 of said chapter 254, as appearing in the Tercentenary Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence: In a civil action under section five, the court may, in its discretion, accept a bond, with sufficient surety or sureties, to dissolve the lien of any creditor or all liens, as to the whole or any part of the property, or any interest therein."
1973 Senate Doc. No. 11, at 190. The proposed language referenced an outdated version of the mechanic's lien statute, and was dropped from the final act as adopted, thereby rejecting any reference to G. L. c. 254, § 5. See St. 1973, c. 1114, § 320 ("The last sentence of section 14 of said chapter 254, as appearing in section 10 of chapter 774 of the acts of 1972, is hereby amended by striking out the words 'petition in equity filed' and inserting in place thereof the words: -- civil action commenced"). "Where the Legislature has deleted ... language, apparently purposefully, the current version of the statute cannot be interpreted to include
**792
the rejected requirement. Reading in language that the Legislature chose to remove ... violates basic principles of statutory construction and impermissibly interferes with the legislative function."
Aids Support Group of Cape Cod, Inc
. v.
Barnstable
,
Arch's reliance on
Valentine Lumber & Supply Co
. v.
Thibeault
,
Under the terms of the mechanic's lien statute in effect since 1972, "[o]nce a bond is recorded in accordance with § 14, the lien is dissolved on the record, and any concern about uncertainty of title arising from that lien is eliminated."
NES Rentals
,
4. Conclusion . The order allowing summary judgment is vacated and set aside, and the matter is remanded to the Superior Court for further proceedings.
So ordered .
Both parties refer to a bond issued pursuant to G. L. c. 254, § 14, as a "target lien bond." The term "target lien bond" is not used in the language of G. L. c. 254, § 14. Nonetheless, as CES explains, a lien dissolution bond filed pursuant to G. L. c. 254, § 14, is "commonly referred to as a 'target bond.' " We also previously have referred to a bond issued pursuant to G. L. c. 254, § 14, as a "lien dissolution bond." See
NES Rentals
v.
Maine Drilling & Blasting, Inc
.,
In January, 2017, CES ultimately recorded a copy of the complaint in the Norfolk County registry of deeds, after counsel for Arch contacted CES.
We address today the narrow issue whether G. L. c. 254, § 14, requires that a claimant seeking to enforce a lien bond must record a copy of an attested complaint in the registry of deeds. We do not conclude that a lien bond "replace[s] the Lien Law in its entirety," as Arch suggests would be the result of a ruling against it, and, indeed, draw no conclusions with respect to any other procedural rights or defenses under G. L. c. 254, § 14.
We recognize, as Arch argues, that many entities, including the general contractor and other subcontractors, may have an interest in knowledge of a target lien bond enforcement action; as they are not interested parties to the lawsuit, they will not receive notice through timely service of process. For example, here CES provided Franciosi and Arch -- the two named parties in its enforcement action -- with notice of its claim on the target lien bond. Tocci, the general contractor, however, who was not a party to the action, did not receive such notice, and under the terms of the statute, CES was not obligated to provide it. Any resolution of this issue, however, is for the Legislature.
Arch argues that "it is standard practice in the industry for lien claimants to record attested copies of complaints against target lien bond sureties." We do not read G. L. c. 254, § 14, to preclude interested entities from filing attested copies of complaints to enforce target lien bonds in the registry of deeds; we merely interpret the statutory text not to mandate such recording. While industry "practice may be helpful in discerning the Legislature's intent,"
Tremont Tower Condominium, LLC
,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- City Electric Supply Company v. Arch Insurance Company.
- Cited By
- 17 cases
- Status
- Published