§256.6. Authorization to cancel the inscription of claims and privileges; cancellation; lis pendens

A.(1) If a statement of claim or privilege is improperly filed or if the claim or privilege preserved by the filing of a statement of claim or privilege is extinguished, the public entity, contractor, or subcontractor, or other interested person may require the person who has filed a statement of claim or privilege to give a written authorization directing the recorder of mortgages to cancel the statement of claim or privilege from his records, or to file an original lien cancellation certificate with the recorder of mortgages and to submit a certified copy of the recorded lien cancellation certificate, showing the recordation data, with the undersecretary of the department.

(2) The authorization shall be given within ten days after a written request for authorization has been received by the person filing the statement of claim or privilege from a person entitled to demand it.

(3) One who, without reasonable cause, fails to deliver written authorization to cancel a statement of claim or privilege as required by Subsection A of this Section shall be liable for damages suffered by the department, contractor, subcontractor, or other interested person requesting the authorization as a consequence of the failure and for reasonable attorney fees incurred in causing the statement to be canceled.

(4) A person who has properly requested written authorization for cancellation shall have an action against the person required to deliver the authorization to obtain a judgment declaring the claim or privilege extinguished and directing the recorder of mortgages to cancel the statement of claim or privilege if the person required to give the authorization fails or refuses to do so within the time required by Subsection A of this Section. The plaintiff may also seek recovery of damages and attorney fees to which he may be entitled under this Section.

B. The action authorized by this Section may be by summary proceeding and may be brought in the parish where the statement of claim or privilege is recorded.

C. The recorder of mortgages shall cancel a statement of claim or privilege from his records by making an appropriate notation in the margin of the recorded statement upon the filing with him, by any person, of one of the following:

(1) A written request for cancellation, to which is attached a written authorization for cancellation given by the person who filed it.

(2) A certified copy of an executory judgment declaring the claim or privilege extinguished and directing the cancellation.

D. The effect of filing for recordation of a statement of claim or privilege and the privilege preserved by it shall cease as to third persons unless a notice of lis pendens identifying the suit is filed within one year after the date of filing the claim or privilege. In addition to the requirements of Article 3752 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the notice of lis pendens shall contain a reference to the notice of contract, if one is filed, or a reference to the recorded statement of claim or privilege if a notice of contract is not filed.

Acts 1997, No. 1112, §1, eff. July 14, 1997; Acts 2015, No. 29, §1, eff. May 29, 2015.