When to Certify

Cuevas Machine Co.v. Calgon Carbon Corp. certified a question about Mississippi construction-lien law to that state’s supreme court.

The issue was whether a lienor can satisfy the statutory requirement to “specify the date the claim was due”–defined as “the last date the labor, services or materials were supplied to the premises” under a Mississippi statute–by attaching invoices to the lien that do not plainly state such a date. The current version of the lien statute resulted from a major 2014 legislative overhaul, leaving little judicial guidance on how strictly its requirements should be read.

The court evaluated the three certification factors as follows. First, the question is narrow yet important, and the limited existing precedent largely predates the 2014 amendments. Second, the answer carries significant economic weight, including the seven-figure lien at stake, and will be dispositive of the case. Third, allowing the Mississippi Supreme Court to construe its own statute “will allow us to conclude this case in a manner that is not at risk of inconsistency with any later determination by that court.” No. 25-60198, Apr. 15, 2026.