July/August - 32

LEGAL MATTERS
AUTHOR Paul Grocki
Beware the Perils of Filing
an Improper Aircraft Lien
FIXED-BASED OPERATORS and other types of airport
tenants ( " Purveyor " ) provide a variety of services and
materials to aircraft owners.
Unfortunately, sometimes aircraft
owners do not pay the Purveyor for
the services and/or materials that a
Purveyor provides. When this happens,
filing a lien against the owner's aircraft
is a powerful and effective tool to help
the Purveyor get paid. When placing a
lien on an aircraft, the Purveyor must
be careful to meticulously satisfy the
applicable legal requirements. Failure
to do so could result in potential civil,
and in some circumstances even criminal,
liability to the Purveyor for filing
an improper lien. This article examines
those potential consequences.
Does Your State Have a
Statute That Allows for
Liens Specific to Aircraft?
When assessing your rights to place
a lien on an aircraft, you should first
identify whether your state has a
statute that allows for liens specific
to aircraft. This could be a specific
statute like that of Connecticut
(C.G.S. §49-92g), Florida (Fla. Stat.
§329.51), Texas (Tex. Prop. Code
§70.302), New Mexico (NM Stat.
Ann. §48-3-29), Oklahoma (42 Okl.
St. §91A), California (Cal. Code Civ.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PAUL GROCKI
Paul Grocki is an attorney with the Law
Offices of Paul A. Lange, LLC with offices
in New York and Connecticut. He focuses
his practice primarily on litigation,
insurance and aircraft transactional
matters. Grocki also represents aircraft
owners and fixed-based operators
(FBOs) in connection with negotiation
of management, charter agreements,
various types of ground leases and
airport disputes.
Proc. §1208.61), Idaho (ID Code §451102),
and North Carolina (NC Code
§ 44A-55), which have lien statutes
that specifically apply to aircraft. In
other states, the right to place a lien on
an aircraft is included within a broader
statute allowing for mechanics liens in
general. In New York, for instance,
the right to place a lien on an aircraft
is included in a statute protecting the
bailee of motor vehicles, motorboats,
and aircraft. See NY CLS Lien §184.
In Maine, the right to place a lien
on an aircraft is covered in a broader
mechanics lien statute that protects
those who perform labor and materials
for storage and repair of vehicles,
aircraft, and parachutes. See 10 M.R.S.
§3801. Identifying the applicable state
statutes and understanding the specific
requirements is the first step to ensuring
that your lien is valid.
Carefully Identify and
Examine the Specific Bases
for Which the Statute Allows
you to Assert the Lien
Once you identify the law that applies
to asserting a lien against an aircraft,
you need to consider whether your
specific facts provide you with a legitimate
basis for asserting a lien under
that law. Specifically, you need to
ensure that the exact services and/or
materials you provided, and for which
you were not paid, provides you with
a basis to assert a lien under that law.
For example, Connecticut's lien
law provides that " [a]ny person who
stores, cares for, maintains, repairs, or
furnishes any services, gasoline, accessories,
materials or other supplies at
32 \ AIRPORT BUSINESS / JULY/AUGUST 2023
the request of or with the consent of
the owner, his agent or legal possessor
of an aircraft, as defined in section
15-34, has a lien upon the aircraft until
the sum due for any fees, expenses or
charges for such storage, care, maintenance
or repair or the furnishing of
such services, gasoline, accessories,
materials or other supplies has been
paid. " (Emphasis added.) C.G.S. §
49-92g. Connecticut's law is very
broad and Purveyor friendly given
that it allows a Purveyor to assert a
lien against an aircraft owner (or the
owner's agent or other legal possessor
of the aircraft) for furnishing any services
or materials to an aircraft owner.
By comparison, Massachusetts' lien
law is not as broad as Connecticut's.
Specifically, Massachusetts' lien law
provides in relevant part that " [p]
ersons, including but not limited to
the commonwealth and any department,
commission, division, agency,
or branch thereof, maintaining
public landing, parking, storage, and
tie-down facilities for the landing,
parking, storage, and tie-down of
aircraft brought to their premises on
an airport or placed in their care by
or with the consent of the owners
thereof, shall have a lien upon such
aircraft for proper charges due them
July/August

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