Picerne Construction v. Castellino Villas
Annotate this CasePicerne Construction Corp. agreed to build an apartment complex for Castellino Villas. After construction started, Castellino refinanced the property, replacing the original lender with Bank of the West. Picerne subsequently claimed money due, recorded a mechanic’s lien, and brought this action against Castellino and Bank of the West to foreclose on the lien. Following a bench trial, the trial court entered judgment in favor of Picerne. Castellino argued on appeal: (1) Picerne did not have a valid mechanic’s lien because it did not record its claim within 90 days after substantial completion of the project; (2) the doctrine of judicial estoppel prevented Picerne from taking contrary positions at arbitration and at trial; (3) Picerne did not timely record a claim of mechanic’s lien as to nine distinct buildings within the project; and (4) the trial court erred in calculating the amount of the lien. Bank of the West agreed that Picerne failed to timely record its claim of mechanic’s lien. In addition, Bank of the West contends (5) that Picerne’s complaint against it is time-barred because Picerne did not name Bank of the West as a defendant in the original complaint even though it was aware of facts indicating it had a claim against the bank. After review, the Court of Appeal concluded: (1) Picerne timely recorded its mechanic’s lien; (2) Castellino failed to demonstrate the applicability of judicial estoppel; (3) the property constituted one residential unit; (4) the trial court overstated the principal sum due and failed to subtract the $115,453.50 setoff from the principal sum, but the other claims of error with regard to the lien amount have no merit; and (5) the action against Bank of the West was not time-barred because Picerne timely substituted Bank of the West in place of a Doe defendant when Picerne learned of the bank’s interest in the property. The Court modified the judgment to provide that the mechanic’s lien was in the amount of $2,416,855.06 and affirmed the judgment as modified.
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