Many subcontracts expressly condition payment to the subcontractor on receipt of payment from the owner by the prime contractor. Such a provision is typically labeled as a "pay-when-paid" clause. This clause postpones the time for payment to the subcontractor until payment is made by the owner or for a reasonable period of time. Thus, "pay-when-paid" clauses simply require a reasonable time to pass before payment is due and owing to the subcontractor, regardless of payment by the owner. Whereas, a "pay-if-paid" clause is intended to shift the risk of non-payment of the owner to the subcontractor and makes payment by the owner an express and absolute condition precedent to the prime contractor’s payment to the subcontractor.
These clauses have been enforced by some courts where the language in the clause makes payment by the owner to the prime contractor an express condition precedent to payment of the subcontractor. Nonetheless, subcontractors may have the ability to recover payment from the prime contractor’s surety where a payment bond has been furnished. As explained by one federal court:
The Miller Act is ‘highly remedial in nature,’ and so ‘entitled to a liberal construction and application in order to properly effectuate the Congressional intent to protect those whose labor and materials go into public projects.’ ‘[C]ommon sense dictates that it would defeat the policy underlying the Miller Act to read a pay-when-paid clause as precluding a subcontractor from bringing suit until its contractor receives payment.’ To enforce a pay-when-paid clause in this context would delay many claims beyond the Act’s one-year statute of limitations, and would thus render the clause an implicit waiver of the subcontractor’s Miller Act rights.
(Citations omitted.) This same rationale could also be applied where there is a "pay-if-paid" clause in the subcontract and under Mississippi’s payment bond statute.
Even if a payment bond has not been furnished on a project, a subcontractor on a private project may be able to file a lien and action to enforce the lien to avoid non-payment by the owner to the prime contractor. See generally, Miss. Code Ann. §§ 85-7-401, et al.
Many subcontracts expressly condition payment to the subcontractor on receipt of payment from the owner by the prime contractor. Such a provision is typically labeled as a "pay-when-paid" clause. This clause postpones the time for payment to the subcontractor until payment is made by the owner or for a reasonable period of time. Thus, "pay-when-paid" clauses simply require a reasonable time to pass before payment is due and owing to the subcontractor, regardless of payment by the owner. Whereas, a "pay-if-paid" clause is intended to shift the risk of non-payment of the owner to the subcontractor and makes payment by the owner an express and absolute condition precedent to the prime contractor’s payment to the subcontractor.
These clauses have been enforced by some courts where the language in the clause makes payment by the owner to the prime contractor an express condition precedent to payment of the subcontractor. Nonetheless, subcontractors may have the ability to recover payment from the prime contractor’s surety where a payment bond has been furnished. As explained by one federal court:
The Miller Act is ‘highly remedial in nature,’ and so ‘entitled to a liberal construction and application in order to properly effectuate the Congressional intent to protect those whose labor and materials go into public projects.’ ‘[C]ommon sense dictates that it would defeat the policy underlying the Miller Act to read a pay-when-paid clause as precluding a subcontractor from bringing suit until its contractor receives payment.’ To enforce a pay-when-paid clause in this context would delay many claims beyond the Act’s one-year statute of limitations, and would thus render the clause an implicit waiver of the subcontractor’s Miller Act rights.
(Citations omitted.) This same rationale could also be applied where there is a "pay-if-paid" clause in the subcontract and under Mississippi’s payment bond statute.
Even if a payment bond has not been furnished on a project, a subcontractor on a private project may be able to file a lien and action to enforce the lien to avoid non-payment by the owner to the prime contractor. See generally, Miss. Code Ann. §§ 85-7-401, et al.
