PIC Construction Co. v. First Union National Bank of North Carolina

This is the second decision on the subject of creditors’ rights and mechanics’ liens announced by us today. In the first, Loyola Federal Savings and Loan Association v. Herndon Lumber & Millwork, Inc., 218 Va. 803, 241 S.E.2d 752 (1978), we decided an issue common to both cases. There, we ruled that a trustee in a deed of trust was not an “owner”, within the meaning of Code § 43-4, and that the failure to name such trustee in a memorandum for mechanic’s lien did not invalidate the lien. Here, we examine the legal effect of the release of one lot from a joint unapportioned lien memorandum.

In…