Failure to release lien; damages
Sec. 1. (a) If:
(1) a person owns or has an interest in real estate to which a
mechanic's lien has been attached;
(2) the debt secured by the lien has satisfied or paid; and
(3) the person who owns or has an interest in the encumbered
real estate demands that the lien be released;
the lienholder shall release the lien within fifteen (15) days after the
demand.
(b) If the lienholder does not release the lien within fifteen (15)
days after the demand, the lienholder is liable to the person who
owns or has an interest in the real estate to which the mechanic's lien
has been attached for the greater of:
(1) actual damages; or
(2) liquidated damages in the sum of ten dollars ($10) per day
from the fifteenth day until the release or expiration of the lien.
(c) A person who owns or who has an interest in real estate to
which a mechanic's lien has been attached may, at any time thirteen
(13) months after the date of the filing of the notice of the lien, file
in the office of the recorder of the county in which the real estate is
situated an affidavit stating that no suit for the foreclosure of the lien
is pending and that no unsatisfied judgment has been rendered on the
lien.
As added by P.L.2-2002, SEC.13.
Last modified: May 24, 2006