The Soto Law Group, P.A.

Sections §713.01 and §713.02 Florida’s Construction Lien Statute classifies lienors by title and tier. So what do the titles mean and what is the impact on your lien rights given that title? Contractors. Under the lien statute, the term “contractor” means a person/party other than a materialman or laborer who has a contract with the owner of real property for improving it. This definition also applies to a party who takes over from a previous contractor employed to finish the contract work with the owner. The term “contractor” can also be used to define an architect, landscape architect, or engineer with a design-build contract. The key to knowing if one is a “contractor” is ones relationship with the owner. A party with a direct contract (or in contractual privity with) the owner of the real property being improved is a “contractor”. The term contractor also covers architects, landscape architects and engineers providing services under a design build contract. Subcontractors. Th...

FEDERAL  Court Rules in Favor of General Contractor in FLSA Overtime Case In  early 2015, SLG attorney Christina L. Feyen successfully defended a general contractor (“GC”) in the Southern District Court of Florida against FLSA claims for overtime asserted by employees of the project’s concrete shell subcontractor. Plaintiffs brought their FLSA claims on a “joint employer” theory of liability. Under that theory, a GC could be liable to a subcontractor’s employee for FLSA violations if that employee is found to be “economically dependent” on the GC. The  U.S. District Court granted summary judgment for the GC, finding that the Plaintiffs were not economically dependent enough on the GC to hold the GC liable as a joint employer. Just as important as the end result in this case are the facts that led the Court to this decision. The U.S. District Court utilized the eight (8) factor test endorsed by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to determine whether the GC was a jo...