North Bay Construction Inc. v. City of Petaluma

Plaintiff North Bay Construction, Inc. (North Bay), seeks to recover from the City of Petaluma (City) for grading work it performed on City land under a contract with the developer to which the City had leased the property. North Bay seeks to foreclose a mechanic’s lien against the property and to obtain judgment against the City on a theory of quantum meruit. The trial court dismissed North Bay’s complaint on the grounds that a mechanic’s lien cannot be enforced against property owned by a municipality, even if the work was not performed as part of a “public work” project, and that a contractor cannot recover in quantum meruit for improvements to a municipality’s property performed under a contract with a third party. We agree with the conclusions of the trial court and shall affirm.

Factual and Procedural History

North Bay’s complaint alleges that the City is the owner of real property commonly known as the Redwood Empire Sportsplex, which was leased to a developer for the purpose of constructing a sports complex. The developer contracted with North Bay, a licensed paving contractor, to perform grading work at the property, which North Bay has completed but for which…