SubContractor put a mechanic lien on my house

We built a house in bay area last year, but one subcontractor who installed AC put a mechanic lien on my house in Nov 2017, claiming $11K, and he then filed a law suit against the general contractor and us (me, my wife and our trust). We had a case management conference in court in May and found out that this subcontractor did not have all the proof that he served us properly, but both the general contractor and us failed to respond to the summon. So we have another court date set in Nov. 2018.  

I have proof that I paid the general contractor in full except that I  withhold the $11K from the last payment of $22K to the general contractor. The general contractor promised me repeatedly that he will resolve the matter with the subcontractor and the subcontractor will remove the lien as a result, but this never happen. In the case management conference, since all three parties involved failed to do something, we were told that we have another month to file response.  Now my question:

(1) Should I hire a lawyer to help me resolve this matter?

     Or I can download a form and file the response myself? I have about two more weeks left.

(2) If I need to find a lawyer, what kind of lawyer I should talk to? I live in San Jose area.

(3) Can I use the $11K withhold money to pay lawyer? Or I have to file a suit against the general contractor?

Thank you so much!

 

 

  

所有跟帖： 

• 事情的原委你未說清楚。如果清楚，對症下藥，就不需要律師。 -風雨夜行人- ♂ (821 bytes) () 06/11/2018 postreply 23:08:00

• Let me explain further -car_accident- ♂ (2083 bytes) () 06/11/2018 postreply 23:28:48

• 奇了怪了，general contractor 主動要求扣壓11k -風雨夜行人- ♂ (313 bytes) () 06/11/2018 postreply 23:46:46

• A complete mess between them -car_accident- ♂ (1369 bytes) () 06/12/2018 postreply 00:10:37

• A complete mess between them -car_accident- ♂ (1369 bytes) () 06/12/2018 postreply 00:10:37

• Just release the $11,000 to sub -bjhaigui- ♂ (160 bytes) () 06/12/2018 postreply 05:27:20

• 樓主意思是 -風雨夜行人- ♂ (218 bytes) () 06/12/2018 postreply 05:57:48

• real estate lawyer. -檸檬椰子汁- ♂ (212 bytes) () 06/12/2018 postreply 07:46:40

• 仔細看了一下 -風雨夜行人- ♂ (1343 bytes) () 06/12/2018 postreply 04:15:41

• 是的, $11K cannot resolve the matter -car_accident- ♂ (711 bytes) () 06/12/2018 postreply 08:07:10

• 從你的案情描述看 -風雨夜行人- ♂ (616 bytes) () 06/12/2018 postreply 08:25:01

• 是啊! -car_accident- ♂ (355 bytes) () 06/12/2018 postreply 13:56:11