T.O. IX, LLC v. Superior Court

Unlike a cat, the mechanic’s lien here has one life, not nine.

Asphalt Professionals, Inc. (API), the real party in interest, contracted with petitioners T.O. IX, LLC, and D and S Homes, Inc., to build a street through a nine-home subdivision developed by petitioners. API alleges that it has not been paid $79,831.18 due under the contract. It recorded a mechanic’s lien against each of the nine parcels for the full amount due under the contract: nine separate liens, at $79,831.18 each, to secure API’s right to be paid once. After API filed this action to foreclose on the mechanic’s liens, petitioners filed a motion to remove the liens as willfully overstated, pursuant to Civil Code section 3118. The trial court denied the motion. Petitioners then applied ex parte for an order permitting them to release all nine parcels from the liens by posting a single surety bond in an amount equal to one and one-half times the total amount of API’s claim, as provided in section 3143. The trial court denied the application.

Petitioners filed this petition for a writ of mandate to direct the trial court to grant either the motion to remove the liens or the ex parte application to post a…