CONSTRUCTION DEFECT JOURNAL

"News and Information for Construction Defect and Claims Professionals"

CONSTRUCTION DEFECT JOURNAL - ISSUE 242749 - FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2025

Don’t Assert as a Counterclaim to a Lien Foreclosure Lawsuit an Order to Show Cause Claim

Lien definition

In a recent case, Custom Homes By Triumph, LLC v. Sverdlow, 50 Fla.L.Weekly D1946a (Fla. 2nd DCA 2025), a lienor filed a lien foreclosure lawsuit.

October 27, 2025
David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates

If there is a construction lien on your property and you don’t like the lien, here are options to deal with the lien:

  1. You negotiate a resolution a get a satisfaction of lien to record in the public records. Or, you can transfer the lien to the security of a lien transfer bond, but that just means the lienor would need to foreclose against the bond instead of the real property. In other words, the lien is collateralized by the lien transfer bond and not the real property so it does not resolve the lien.
  2. You record a Notice of Contest of Lien to shorten the lienor’s statute of limitations to foreclose on the construction lien to 60 days. (See here.) If the lienor does not timely foreclose, then the lien is of no effect as a matter of law. However, this does force the issue, meaning the lienor may file a lien foreclosure lawsuit sooner than later. (But, if they file the lawsuit sooner, then the lienor was always going to file the lawsuit later.)
  3. You can file a lawsuit for an Order to Show Cause under Fla. Stat. s. 713.21(4) and force the lienor to file a lien foreclosure counterclaim within 20 days from service of the show cause summons. (See here.) The only time you’d really do this is if you want to initiate a lawsuit that you’d probably initiate no matter what. Otherwise, the Notice of Contest of Lien is more cost effective and more efficient.

Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com


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