## Facts

- National Glass, Inc. (NGI), a Maryland subcontractor, agreed with John R. Hess, Inc. (Hess), a Pennsylvania general contractor, to supply and install glass, windows, and doors for construction of a J.C. Penney store on Maryland real property owned by J.C. Penney Properties, Inc.
- The subcontract included (1) a provision purporting to waive NGI’s right to file or assert a mechanic’s lien and (2) a Pennsylvania choice-of-law clause; Pennsylvania law generally permits contractual waiver of mechanic’s lien rights.
- NGI completed its work but was not fully paid.
- NGI filed a petition in the Circuit Court for Charles County, Maryland to establish a mechanic’s lien against the Maryland property.
- J.C. Penney opposed the petition, arguing the subcontract required arbitration in Pennsylvania and that the lien waiver was enforceable under the Pennsylvania choice-of-law clause.

## Issues

1. Whether a subcontract’s Pennsylvania choice-of-law clause makes enforceable a provision waiving a subcontractor’s mechanic’s lien rights against Maryland real property, despite Maryland Real Property § 9-113 declaring advance lien waivers void as against public policy.
2. Under conflict-of-laws principles, whether Maryland may disregard the parties’ chosen law when applying it would defeat a fundamental Maryland policy governing liens on Maryland land.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of Maryland reversed the dismissal of NGI’s mechanic’s lien petition to the extent it was based on the contractual waiver.
- The court held the advance mechanic’s lien waiver void and unenforceable under Maryland law.
- The court declined to apply the Pennsylvania choice-of-law clause to validate the waiver because doing so would contravene Maryland’s fundamental public policy.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings allowing NGI to pursue its mechanic’s lien claim.

## Legal Principles

- Under Maryland Real Property § 9-113, any contractual provision that purports to waive in advance the right to file or claim a mechanic’s lien on Maryland property is void as against public policy.
- A contractual choice-of-law clause is not enforced when application of the chosen law would be contrary to a fundamental policy of a state with a materially greater interest, and that state’s law would apply absent an effective choice (Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws § 187(2)(b)).
- Maryland has a materially greater interest in regulating mechanic’s liens against Maryland real property because lien rights are created by Maryland statute and operate directly on Maryland land.
- Party autonomy in selecting governing law does not permit contracting around nonwaivable statutory protections directed at Maryland construction and real estate.

## Conclusion

Maryland courts will not enforce an advance mechanic’s lien waiver affecting Maryland property, even where the construction subcontract selects another state’s law that would allow such a waiver, because Maryland’s statutory prohibition reflects a fundamental public policy and Maryland has the greater interest in the lien’s operation on in-state land.


National Glass, Inc. v. J.C. Penney Props., Inc., 336 Md. 606, 650 A.2d 246 (Md. 1994)