I have experience with various facets of construction law, including litigation involving mechanic's liens. If you are a construction worker and you haven't been paid by a contractor or by a subcontractor, you may wish, at the very least, to become well advised of your rights.
Texas mechanic's liens laws are technical in the sense that they require the taking of specified actions within limited time periods, depending upon the nature of the dispute involved (i.e., whether the claim is advanced by a contractor, a subcontractor, a sub-subcontractor, etc.).
Don't get left out in the cold because you filed your affidavit of lien too late, leaving you to serve as a general creditor of a bankrupt entity, without any security.
I also can assert lien claims against entities which have filed for bankruptcy protection. Special laws and rules of decision govern the perfection of mechanic's liens once a debtor is in bankruptcy (the filing of an affidavit of lien does not, for example, violate the automatic stay at 11 U.S.C. § 362), and lien claimants who properly assert their rights can and should be treated as secured creditors. (In bankruptcy, one never wants to be an unsecured creditor, because an unsecured creditor is not entitled to possess any particular property of the debtor in the event of a failure of payment.)
