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Summary of Decision issued July 14, 2010

Summaries are prepared by Law Librarians and are not official statements of the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Case Name: Opportunity Knocks Enterprises, LLC v. Shannon Electric, Inc.

Citation: 2010 WY 99

Docket Number: S-09-0079

Appeal from the District Court of Albany County, the Honorable Jeffrey A. Donnell, Judge.

Representing Opportunity: Alan G. Harding and Galen B. Woelk of Aron & Hennig, LLP, Laramie, Wyoming.

Representing Shannon: Peggy A. Trent and Kristin S. Wilkerson of Trent & Wilkerson Law Office, LLC, Laramie, Wyoming.

Facts/Discussion: Opportunity Knocks Enterprises, LLC (Opportunity Knocks) appealed a district court?s determination that it failed to prove that Shannon Electric, Inc. (Shannon) knew at the time it filed a claim of lien, that the lien was groundless, or that the lien contained a material misstatement or false claim.

Lien groundless: The Court affirmed the district court?s determination that Opportunity Knocks' proof that Shannon Electric included amounts for profit, overhead, and markups in its lien claim does not amount to proof that the lien claim was groundless, or that it contained a material misstatement or a false claim.
Proof of intentional fraud: The Court found it unnecessary to determine whether the district court applied an intentional fraud standard, or erred in doing so, because none of the matters raised would make the lien statement groundless, or would constitute material misstatements or false claims.
Material misstatement: A petition filed pursuant to § 29-1-311(b) is not the appropriate method for testing the adequacy of a lien statement under § 29-1-301(b).

Conclusion: The District court did not err in concluding that the alleged deficiencies in the lien statement in this case did not show that Shannon Electric knew at the time of filing that its lien claim was groundless, or that it contained a material misstatement or a false claim. While the district court did err in assigning the burden of proof under § 29-1-311 to Opportunity Knocks, that erroneous assignment did not affect the correct result reached by the district court.

Affirmed.

J. Voigt delivered the decision.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/2akjqnu .

[SPECIAL NOTE: This opinion uses the "Universal Citation." It was given an "official" citation when it was issued. You should use this citation whenever you cite the opinion, with a P.3d parallel citation. Please note when you look at the opinion that all of the paragraphs are numbered. When you pinpoint cite to a quote, you should cite to this paragraph number rather than to any page number. If you need assistance using the Universal Citation format, please contact the Wyoming State Law Library.]

Full post as published by Law Library Letter on July 15, 2010 (boomark / email).