Opinion ID: 6352030
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Construction Lien Statutes

Text: ¶9 A construction lien is a remedy created by statute to insure payment to contractors, subcontractors, tradesmen, laborers, and materialmen who have furnished labor or materials in good faith for improvement of another's property. Hoida, Inc. v. M & I Midstate Bank, 2004 WI App 191, ¶20, 276 Wis. 2d 705, 688 N.W.2d 691 (quotation marks omitted). Statutes governing construction liens were first enacted more than 150 years ago to encourage construction by protecting the contractors and subcontractors of building projects. Kraemer Bros., Inc. v. Pulaski St. Bank, 138 Wis. 2d 395, 399, 406 N.W.2d 379 (1987). 6 No. 2019AP2095 ¶10 The lien laws of this state have consistently been described as remedial in character, with the purpose of protecting the claims of tradesmen, laborers and materialmen for work and materials supplied. Bayland Bldgs., Inc. v. Spirit Master Funding VIII, LLC, 2017 WI App 42, ¶2, 377 Wis. 2d 149, 900 N.W.2d 94 (quoting Wes Podany Constr. Co. v. Nowicki, 120 Wis. 2d 319, 324, 354 N.W.2d 755 (Ct. App. 1984)); see also Goebel v. Nat'l Exchangors, Inc., 88 Wis. 2d 596, 606, 277 N.W.2d 755 (1979); Tri-State Mech., Inc. v. Northland Coll., 2004 WI App 100, ¶8, 273 Wis. 2d 471, 681 N.W.2d 302 ([O]ne of the general purposes of construction lien laws is to protect subcontractors of building projects. (citing Kraemer Bros., 138 Wis. 2d at 399)). Because construction liens are purely statutory, [o]ne pursuing rights under the Wisconsin construction lien law must follow the statute or lien rights fail. Wes Podany Constr. Co., 120 Wis. 2d at 324. ¶11 Construction liens can be waived under Wis. Stat. § 779.05(1). That statute provides in relevant part: Any waiver document shall be deemed to waive all lien rights of the signer for all labor, services, materials, plans, or specifications performed, furnished, or procured, or to be performed, furnished, or procured, by the claimant at any time for the improvement to which the waiver relates, except to the extent that the document specifically and expressly limits the waiver to apply to a particular portion of such labor, services, materials, plans, or specifications. The statute further directs that [a]ny ambiguity in such document shall be construed against the person signing it. 7 No. 2019AP2095 § 779.05(1). The lien waiver statute, created in 1968 as Wis. Stat. § 289.05(1) and renumbered in 1979, was primarily a codification of what was common practice in the construction industry. Druml Co., Inc. v. City of New Berlin, 78 Wis. 2d 305, 310, 254 N.W.2d 265 (1977) (citing Walter B. Raushenbush, Wisconsin Construction Lien Law 1974 (1975)); see also § 3, ch. 351, Laws of 1967; Wis. Stat. § 289.05(1) (1967– 68); § 57, ch. 32, Laws of 1979.