2007 Minnesota Statutes

481.13 LIEN FOR ATTORNEYS' FEES.
    Subdivision 1. Generally. (a) An attorney has a lien for compensation whether the agreement
for compensation is expressed or implied (1) upon the cause of action from the time of the
service of the summons in the action, or the commencement of the proceeding, and (2) upon the
interest of the attorney's client in any money or property involved in or affected by any action
or proceeding in which the attorney may have been employed, from the commencement of the
action or proceeding, and, as against third parties, from the time of filing the notice of the lien
claim, as provided in this section.
(b) An attorney has a lien for compensation upon a judgment, whether there is a special
express or implied agreement as to compensation, or whether a lien is claimed for the reasonable
value of the services. The lien extends to the amount of the judgment from the time of giving
notice of the claim to the judgment debtor. The lien under this paragraph is subordinate to the
rights existing between the parties to the action or proceeding.
(c) A lien provided by paragraphs (a) and (b) may be established, and the amount of the lien
may be determined, summarily by the court under this paragraph on the application of the lien
claimant or of any person or party interested in the property subject to the lien.
Judgment shall be entered under the direction of the court, adjudging the amount due.
    Subd. 2. Perfection of lien. (a) If the lien is claimed on the client's interest in real property
involved in or affected by the action or proceeding, a notice of intention to claim a lien on the
property must be filed in the office of the county recorder or registrar of titles, where appropriate,
and noted on the certificate or certificates of title affected, in and for the county where the real
property is located. Within 30 days of filing a lien on real property, the claimant must prepare
and deliver a written notice of the filing personally or by certified mail to the owner of the real
property or the owner's authorized agent. A person who fails to provide the required notice shall
not have the lien and remedy provided by this section. Upon receipt of payment in full of the debt
which gave rise to the lien, the lienholder shall deliver within 30 days a recordable satisfaction
and release of lien to the owner of the real property or the owner's authorized agent. No notice of
intent to claim a lien may be filed more than 120 days after the last item of claim.
(b) If the lien is claimed on the client's interest in personal property involved in or affected
by the action or proceeding, the notice must be filed in the same manner as provided by law
for the filing of a security interest.
    Subd. 3. One-year limitation. No lien against real property shall be enforced unless the
lienholder, by filing either a complaint or an answer with the court administrator, asserts a lien
within one year after the filing of the notice of intention to claim a lien, unless within the one-year
time period the owner has agreed to a longer time period to assert the lien. This agreement must
be in a written instrument signed by the owner containing the legal description of the affected real
property and a description of the recording information of the filed lien and the written instrument
must be recorded in the same office as the lien within one year after the filing of the notice of
intention to claim a lien. In no event may the lien be asserted more than three years after filing.
No person is bound by any judgment in the action unless made a party to the action within the
time limit. The absence from the record in the Office of the County Recorder or the registrar of
titles, where appropriate, of a notice of lis pendens of an action after the expiration of the time
limit in which the lien could be so asserted is conclusive evidence that the lien may no longer be
enforced as to a bona fide purchaser, mortgagee, or encumbrancer without notice. In the case of
registered land, the registrar of titles shall refrain from carrying forward to new certificates of
title the memorials of lien statements when no notice of lis pendens has been registered within
the time limit.
History: (5695) RL s 2288; 1917 c 98; 1939 c 394; 1976 c 181 s 2; 1976 c 304 s 2; 1986 c
444; 2002 c 403 s 2; 2003 c 5 art 2 s 1