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florida lien dismissed d/t no response d/t no service of motion

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Lpeppie656

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Florida

I did concrete, masonry, and concrete pumping for a Florida contractor on a 3 story condo on the beach. We had numerous porblems throughout the job and ultimately was not paid the last $9,000.00. I filed a Florida lien. Shortly thereafter I received a "Certificate of Clerk" stating that the General contractor deposited a cash bond and released the property. I had to retain counsel and file a "Complaint" to enforce. Then the Judge ruled that the contactor filed thier motion for cancellation of lien needed to be filed in Circuit Court, not County Civil court as they did. This is where things went wrong......The next notification I received was was from my atty. in Feb. stating that they did not seem to be re-filing in circuit court. Then I receive another letter from my atty stating that they filed a Motion to Dismiss d/t my non-response to this. #1 They sent it certified mail but the F.S. indicates it should be send by "mail". It was returned to the clerk "undeliverable", proof that I did not receive the correspondence. They did not sent my atty of record a copy. #2 This motion was filed by the contractors atty. The statute states that it has to be filed by owner, owner agent, or owner atty. Apparently they said they could go back and get owner verification that the contractors atty was acting for the owner. (I was not in any litigation with the owner). SO, the next letter from my atty is stating we lost the case d/t the above facts.
My questions are #1. My atty advises that I do not appeal but I ammend the lawsuit to a breach of verbal contract suit. I think I should appeal d/t if we win, we get atty's fees in the case and appeal,not the suit. And, there is a new judge on the bench this year and the facts remain..HOW CAN I RESPOND TO SOMETHING I DID NOT RECEIVE. THEY KNEW THIS. Should my atty have run periodic checks in the circuit court for a new suit. We never even knew there was a new case #, etc. How can I not win the appeal??

Thank you so much for reading all of this and responding as soon as convienent. I am desperite and very angry.

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You have several options that will need to be addressed in the court as soon as possible to avoid the time for appeal running out. My suggestion is that you hire another attorney in additon to the one you already have, and when it is timely, dismiss the current attorney if applicable. It may not be your current attorney's fault. It sounds like improper service to me. I also agree that appeal is the better route than amending the pleadings. This is one of the reasons that you have to act so quickly in order to get that second opinion before filing the timely notice of appeal. You also do not want to be in these precious short days without an attorney either.

You must weigh the costs of a second attorney against the loss of your suit and determine which is the more common sense tactic.
 

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