1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to liens; modifying lien for attorney fees; 
  1.3             making clarifying and technical changes; amending 
  1.4             Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 481.13. 
  1.5   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.6      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 481.13, is 
  1.7   amended to read: 
  1.8      481.13 [LIEN FOR ATTORNEYS' FEES.] 
  1.9      Subdivision 1.  [GENERALLY.] (a) An attorney has a lien for 
  1.10  compensation whether the agreement therefor be for compensation 
  1.11  is expressed or implied: (1) upon the cause of action from the 
  1.12  time of the service of the summons therein in the action, or the 
  1.13  commencement of the proceeding, and (2) upon the interest of the 
  1.14  attorney's client in any money or property involved in or 
  1.15  affected by any action or proceeding in which the attorney may 
  1.16  have been employed, from the commencement of the action or 
  1.17  proceeding, and, as against third parties, from the time of 
  1.18  filing the notice of such the lien claim, as provided in this 
  1.19  section;. 
  1.20     (2) (b) An attorney has a lien for compensation upon a 
  1.21  judgment, and whether there be is a special express or implied 
  1.22  agreement as to compensation, or whether a lien is claimed for 
  1.23  the reasonable value of the services,.  The lien shall extend 
  1.24  extends to the amount thereof of the judgment from the time of 
  1.25  giving notice of the claim to the judgment debtor, but this.  
  2.1   The lien under this paragraph is subordinate to the rights 
  2.2   existing between the parties to the action or proceeding;. 
  2.3      (3) The liens (c) A lien provided by clauses (1) and 
  2.4   (2) paragraphs (a) and (b) may be established, and the 
  2.5   amount thereof of the lien may be determined, by the court, 
  2.6   summarily, in the action or proceeding, by the court under this 
  2.7   paragraph on the application of the lien claimant or of any 
  2.8   person or party interested in the property subject to such the 
  2.9   lien, on such notice to all parties interested therein as the 
  2.10  court may, by order to show cause, prescribe, or such liens may 
  2.11  be enforced, and the amount thereof determined, by the court, in 
  2.12  an action for equitable relief brought for that purpose. 
  2.13     Judgment shall be entered under the direction of the court, 
  2.14  adjudging the amount due. 
  2.15     Subd. 2.  [PERFECTION OF LIEN.] (4) (a) If the lien is 
  2.16  claimed on the client's interest in real estate property 
  2.17  involved in or affected by the action or proceeding, such a 
  2.18  notice of intention to claim a lien thereon on the property 
  2.19  shall must be filed in the office of the county recorder or 
  2.20  registrar of titles, where appropriate, and therein noted on the 
  2.21  certificate or certificates of title affected, in and for the 
  2.22  county within which where the same real property is 
  2.23  situated located.  Within 30 days of filing a lien on real 
  2.24  property, the claimant must prepare and deliver a written notice 
  2.25  of the filing personally or by certified mail to the owner of 
  2.26  the real property or the owner's authorized agent.  A person who 
  2.27  fails to provide the required notice shall not have the lien and 
  2.28  remedy provided by this section.  Upon receipt of payment in 
  2.29  full of the debt which gave rise to the lien, the lienholder 
  2.30  shall deliver within 30 days a recordable satisfaction and 
  2.31  release of lien to the owner of the real property or the owner's 
  2.32  authorized agent.  
  2.33     (b) If the lien is claimed on the client's interest in 
  2.34  personal property involved in or affected by the action or 
  2.35  proceeding, the notice shall must be filed in the same manner as 
  2.36  provided by law for the filing of a security interest. 
  3.1      Subd. 3.  [ONE-YEAR LIMITATION.] No lien against real 
  3.2   property shall be enforced unless the lienholder, by filing 
  3.3   either a complaint or an answer with the court administrator, 
  3.4   asserts a lien within one year after the date of the last item 
  3.5   of the claim as set forth in the notice of intention to claim a 
  3.6   lien.  No person is bound by any judgment in the action unless 
  3.7   made a party to the action within the year.  The absence from 
  3.8   the record of a notice of lis pendens of an action after the 
  3.9   expiration of the year in which the lien could be so asserted is 
  3.10  conclusive evidence that the lien may no longer be enforced as 
  3.11  to a bona fide purchaser, mortgagee, or encumbrancer without 
  3.12  notice.  In the case of registered land, the registrar of titles 
  3.13  shall refrain from carrying forward to new certificates of title 
  3.14  the memorials of lien statements when no notice of lis pendens 
  3.15  has been registered within the period.