There are a lot of requirements to make a payment bond claim notice other than mailing. One of those aspects is the 90 days notice requirement which has to be fulfilled by the second tier or subcontractor or the supplier who has no straight contractual relationship with the general contractor. There have been several cases of failing to provide the notice which is taken into consideration by the circuit court and is examined under the little miller act. We at mechanics lien deal with a lot of cases of payment bond notice and claims. Our team is always ready to advise you on the best steps after examining the situation and always hopes to resolve the matter at the earliest.
There is a very popular case that goes by the name of RT Atkinson building corp v archer western construction, LLC. The court while referring closely to this case looked upon the matter of whether it is right and legitimate to only mail the notice of claim instead of giving it in a manner that ends up satisfying the statutory requirement. This question of legitimacy has been doing rounds for quite a while. Now in the case, we are discussing, the notice was mailed by the supplier within the 90 days of time frame. But the one who was against the case argued that he only received the notice on the 2nd day after the 90 days were over. He also tried to make his argument a lot more legitimate and solid by providing a sort of proof. The defendant while confirming the contention went further to provide the tracking information of the mail by delivering the USPS on a non-compliant date.
Though the argument made by the plaintiff was rejected by the court stating that the method of service was mailing and placing the notice of mail is enough and serve the legitimate cause. The court further went on to state that-
Mentioning the mail as the method of service does not establish the fact that mail is satisfying the prerequisite to giving the notice. The court findings were summed up with clarity. The court went on to clearly state that the notice would only be considered given when it is finally been received by the claimant. It is not as If you send the mail and now it does not matter that it went through or not. It is as important to make sure that the claimant received the notice as to send the mail firsthand.
The court then went further and on procedural grounds denied the summary judgment, which was found to be unrelated to the concrete facts of mailing and receipts.
Now as we move toward the conclusion of the case it is important to take note of a few important points from this case. One has to be pretty clear about the fact that just mailing the notice within 90 days won’t be enough on any ground and will not satisfy the requirements of the little miller act of Virginia. People have been doing this a lot when they assume that mailing is all they need to do and their part is over. If in any such case the claimant does not receive the notice then it will make the case critical. It is therefore important to keep these points in mind before you send the notice of your payment bond claim.
We at Mechanics Lien have one of the most experienced teams who is happy to help you in many of such law-related cases. If there is any such case of payment bond claim, we would be more than happy to help and advise you to deal with such cases.
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