Ditchmen • NUCA of Florida Ditchmen - June 2020 | Page 5

addresses of the owner and general
contractor allowing the lienor to properly
mail the statutorily required notice to
owner. Further, BB&T was in the better
position to protect itself by performing an
updated title search through the date it
filed its mortgage or by otherwise requiring
the owner of the property to terminate the
general contractor’s January 7, 2014, notice
of commencement pursuant to section
713.132 before recording BB&T’s mortgage.
Accordingly, the court held that a notice
of commencement not signed by the
owner, but instead signed by the general
contractor with the owner’s authority, is
not a nullity, per se, in a lien foreclosure
action brought by a subcontractor where
the subcontractor has strictly complied
with chapter 713 and relies upon the
defective notice of commencement, which
is otherwise in substantial compliance with
section 713.07.
This case highlights the importance of
statutory compliance but also the time it
took to get final resolution by the court.
EDWIN TAYLOR CORPORATION, v.
MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION
SYSTEMS, INC.,
JUNE 2020 • DITCHMEN 3