GlobeSt.com: First of all, can you give us some background on the Construction Lien Law?

Oxman: There used to be a law called the Mechanics' Lien Law, which gave people who provided goods, materials and services to a construction site the ability to file a lien on the property they're working on if they aren't paid. A lien is essentially a cloud on the title. It tells the world that the person who owns this property owes somebody money and that if the process plays itself out, the property is going to be subject to a forced sale to satisfy the lien if the lien is found to be valid.

In 1993, the New Jersey legislature threw out the Mechanics' Lien Law as it was written and they tried to modernize it, calling it the Construction Lien Law. They rewrote the provisions to clarify the types of things were subject to a lien and the process of actually filing a lien. They basically separated the types of liens that could be filed into three types: a lien on a private project, a lien on construction and materials that have to do with residential projects, and a lien related to public projects. There really weren't a lot of published decisions of how the lien law would be interpreted, but time went on and there were more and more court decisions. What's happening now is the legislature is recognizing that the lien law is occasionally confusing or doesn't address certain situations and sometimes is not realistic given the modern realities of a construction project. So, the legislature decided to make some changes, and they're currently on the third draft of proposed changes.

GlobeSt.com: What are some of the proposed changes?