MUNDELEIN — The Cypress Creek decision overruling earlier this year had a big impact for general contractors looking to place mechanics liens, but Illinois attorney Margery Newman said the latest legislation has the risk of being too complex.

“The biggest risk of this bill is by throwing it all in there, it’s huge, it’s very long and there’s more risk of misinterpretation,” she said Sept. 18 in Mundelein during the annual Plumbing and Mechanical Contractors Authority of Northern Illinois (PAMCANI) board and dinner meeting.

Newman spoke on the subject of “Bonding over Illinois Mechanics Lien Claims.”

According to PAMCANI, prior to the legislature enacting the bill that overturned the Cypress Creek decision, the Illinois Land Title Association introduced legislation to allow the “bonding over” of lien claims.

House Bill 2804 was introduced in the last legislative session but never made it out of Committee. HB 2904 will be reintroduced in the upcoming legislative session and allows interested parties to substitute a “surety bond” for a mechanics lien claim.

“Unlike Cypress Creek, when I said you must not support that piece of legislation, this bonding over bill is not 100 percent bad,” said Newman. “It has some good points to it and it has some not so good points to it. Ultimately you’ll have to decide, do the pros outweigh the cons?”

Newman said a major plus for general contractors with HB 2904 is simplification of litigation.

Right now, notice must be given to all owners of a condo complex and a lien applied to each unit individually.

“Not only that, you have to do a search of title on all of them. You get all this info, then when it comes time for the lawsuit, you have to name all of them. It’s cost prohibitive,” she said.

Newman said under the new statute, everybody gets dropped out of the suit except for the lien claimant.

“If you’re a general contractor, you’ll be a fan of this statute,” she said.

Another positive is, there will be no need to prove enhancement under the new rules.

“Even under Cypress Creek, if you wanted to jump, prime, or get ahead of the lender, you had to prove you enhanced the project,” said Newman. “It’s very hard to do. Not anymore, now it’s going to be strictly breach of contract.”