Provisional Lien Registration Deadline Interpretation

A litigant was granted a provisional lien but ordered to file a claim for final registration within "one month of the decision becoming final"; the lower court refused to hear the subsequent claim because it was filed after the deadline, interpreting "becoming final" as the date the appeal court refused to rule on the appeal, which caused the final decision to become final earlier. The court reasoned that under principles of due process and the prohibition against penalizing a party for circumstances beyond their control, a procedural deadline begins to run only upon the official notification or opening of the decision to the parties, not upon the earlier legal event of finality, and therefore held that the claim filed within one month of receiving the appeal court's notification was timely.