Minor Changes To Mississippi Mechanic Lien Laws Now Effective
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Since Mississippi is a very close neighbor of Louisiana, and many of our readers do construction work in both states, we have a history of posting about laws and changes in the laws of that state. Take a look at our Mississippi tag here to read these posts. This post is to alert our readers to a recent change in Mississippi’s mechanic lien laws recently signed into law by Governor Barbour (Senate Bill 2363).
The new law is discussed in more detail on another blog I publish, the Construction Lien Blog: Mississippi Lien Law Now Allows Suit in County Court and Clarifies Statutory Lien Period.
In a nutshell, the law makes two changes:
- Previously, the law provided that suits to enforce liens must be filed in circuit court. The new laws amends to clarify that suit can also be filed in county court, which is a court of limited jurisdiction and can handle disputes under $200,000 (which covers most liens).
- It has always been clear that lien enforcement actions in Mississippi must be filed within 1 year of when a debt became due, but because of the complexities of construction debts, this didn’t make things very clear at all. The new law clarifies when the 1 year period begins.
Special thanks to Robert Wise of Sharpe & Wise for calling our attention to this law change. He and his wife, Suzanne Sharpe, worked on pushing it through the legislative process.
