bogus lien?

[teejay]

What is the name of your state? WI
A contractor purchased some finished product from us but failed for pay for 4 months. just today we received a check from what appears to be his lawyer with a lien waver attached. the "jobsite" listed is not the jobsite this finished product was for. my suspicion is that the contractor or lawyer is giving the next job location to release money for the old location. my concern is if i sign this waiver and we do another job for the contractor, how can i make sure i'm not signing away the rights to the new job? the contractor advised me he will have 31 unit condo coming up which will be easier to be paid for due to going thru a bank...did i confuse you?

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state? WI
A contractor purchased some finished product from us but failed for pay for 4 months. just today we received a check from what appears to be his lawyer with a lien waver attached. the "jobsite" listed is not the jobsite this finished product was for. my suspicion is that the contractor or lawyer is giving the next job location to release money for the old location. my concern is if i sign this waiver and we do another job for the contractor, how can i make sure i'm not signing away the rights to the new job? the contractor advised me he will have 31 unit condo coming up which will be easier to be paid for due to going thru a bank...did i confuse you?

**A: you are running a business correct? Where is your biz attorney?

 

[HappyHusband]

What is the name of your state? WI
how can i make sure i'm not signing away the rights to the new job?

By not signing it.

Why would you sign a lien waiver on a job you have not provided product for yet? If the contractor wants to pay you for the old project out of the new project's budget, that's his business.
If he wants you to sign a final lien release for the check he sent you for the old project, they need to send you a final lien release for the old project.

 

[Buk1000]

I'm not an atty. I'm in OK. I second the people who answered "don't sign it." Never sign anything you don't understand fully, and never sign anything where the only explanation of it that you have is what the other party claims it means. I loathe answers that simply say "get a lawyer," becasue that's so obvious, but in this case, IMO you need to pay the hourly fee which should be under $200 hr. for simple explanations, to get some professional legal advice. As a business owner, you should have a regular attorney you can count on for such advice anyway. If you don't...find one. Then, you can make a 15 min phone call for such answers and be billed accordingly on a regular basis, instead of paying for a whole hour every time you need a few minutes worth of advice. Critical to find a good, ethical atty, too...otherwise you're wasting the money.