Mortgage company wants reimbursed for legal fees

[mtndreamer]

What is the name of your state? OH

Our builder took an extra year to complete our house. Prior to receiving our final bill from him, the lumber company filed a mechanic's lien on about 5 months worth of supply. Once the builder made it known that he was not going to take care of the mechanic's lien, and not having the funds to pay the lien myself, I pleaded with the bank that we arrange a meeting where they provide the funds (out of the construction loan) to the lien holder in exchange for a lien release. They refused. The builder and the remaining unpaid subs then attached their own mechanic's liens. Then the builder filed a foreclosure suit. There were enough funds on the construction loan to pay what was due, but the legal mess took over a year to resolve.

Long story short, $30,000 worth of legal bills later, the matter was settled in November of 2006. On the day after Thanksgiving of this year, I received a certified letter from our mortgage company giving me two weeks to pay $4,063 they incurred in legal fees over a year ago. They cited the section of the security agreement that they say puts the responsibility on me. They included a snippet of the section that says any funds disbursed under this section are my responsibility. I read the entire section and it cites three circumstances for which I am responsible. Due to forum rules, I am not sure if I am allowed to post the direct verbiage, so I'll summarize.

1. I fail to perform under the rules of the agreement.
2. A legal proceeding where the lender's interest or rights might be significantly affected.
3. I abandon the place.

The second point lists the various types of legal proceedings with a "such as", and the part about the enforcement of liens is limited to those that may attain priority over the mortgage.

I contacted the sender on the following Monday, 11/26, to discuss the matter and requested copies of the statements. He called back on the next day ready to fax me the invoices when I hit him with my reading of the security agreement. He said he would have to contact counsel. I didn't receive the fax and didn't hear back from him. After two days without a response, I sent a letter to him restating our conversations, cited Ohio law regarding lien priority and requested that since I had not heard from him with a due date so near that the matter be considered closed. Yesterday, I received a fax from the law firm saying that he received my letter (the mortgage company sent it to him) but won't get back to me until next week since he is on vacation. I called the mortgage company again yesterday looking for answers, but still received no call.

Is it my responsibility to pay this? Will I incur additional legal fees by asking questions that require them to refer to legal counsel? This is torture not having an answer from these guys. There's nothing like having a surprise $4,000 debt presented to you right before the holidays!

Thanks in advance for any advice.