Cuevas Machine v. Calgon Carbon

── Cuevas Machine v. Calgon Carbon ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Date: April 15, 2026 Category: Private Civil Diversity Case: 25-60198 Document: 61-1 Page: 1 Date Filed: 04/15/2026 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ____________ United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit No. 25-60198 FILED April 15, 2026 ____________ Lyle W. Cayce Cuevas Machine Company, Clerk Plaintiff—Appellant, versus Calgon Carbon Corporation. Defendant—Appellee. ______________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi USDC No. 1:24-CV-114 ______________________________ Before Elrod, Chief Judge, and Smith and Wilson, Circuit Judges. Cory T. Wilson, Circuit Judge: This case concerns the requirements for the creation of a valid construction lien under Mississippi law. Cuevas Machine Company sued Calgon Carbon Corporation seeking to foreclose on two construction liens. The district court dismissed Cuevas’s complaint with prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) after making an Erie guess that Cuevas’s liens did not comply with Miss. Code Ann. § 85-7-405(1)(b) and were therefore unenforceable. This appeal followed. Case: 25-60198 Document: 61-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 04/15/2026 No. 25-60198 It is unclear from state precedent whether the Mississippi Supreme Court would interpret the relevant lien statute flexibly or in strict accordance with its terms. More precisely, we remain uncertain as to whether a lienor may establish the “last date” on which labor, services, or materials were provided—as required to create a valid construction lien—by attaching invoices that do not clearly identify such a “last date.” To avoid misapplying the state’s construction lien statute, we certify the issue to the Mississippi Supreme Court. I. In May 2022, Cuevas Machine Company subcontracted with O’Neal Constructors, a general contractor, to perform fabrication and machining services at a filtration plant owned by Calgon Carbon Corporation in Hancock County, Mississippi. Under the subcontract’s “pay-when-paid” clause, O’Neal was bound to pay Cuevas for its services once Calgon paid O’Neal. By June 2023, O’Neal had stopped paying Cuevas, alleging that Calgon had failed to pay O’Neal for its work. Despite the lack of payment, Cuevas continued to perform the requested work at the Calgon plant. In October 2023, Cuevas timely recorded two separate construction liens against the Calgon property improved by Cuevas’s work. The two liens are for $763,245 and $471,661, totaling roughly $1.23 million. The liens themselves do not explicitly state the “last date [that] labor, services or materials were supplied to the premises”—a requirement to create an “effective or enforceable” construction lien. Miss. Code Ann. § 85-7-405(1)(b). Instead, Cuevas attached dated invoices to the two liens stating what work was performed and the amount owed for each part of Cuevas’s work. But it is unclear from the invoices themselves whether the dates listed reflect the dates that particular services were provided, the dates 2 Case: 25-60198 Document: 61-1 Page: 3 Date Filed: 04/15/2026 No. 25-60198 on which Cuevas generated the invoices, or some ot