The Austin Court Appeals held in Ready Cable, Inc. v. RJP Southern Comfort Homes, Inc., ___S.W.3d___, 2009 WL 2902742 (Tex. App.-Austin 2009, no pet. h.), that a subcontractor's lien was enforceable despite being filed one month late since the county clerk refused to accept the timely delivered lien on erroneous grounds. Ready Cable was a subcontractor on a construction project owned by RJP Southern Comfort Homes. Ready Cable filed a mechanic's lien on August 15, 2007 after sending its pre-lien notice of claim and demand. Attached to the affidavit was a document entitled " Exhibit 'A' to Condominium Declaration: FIELD NOTES," which contacted a legal description of the property and contained the phrase "Unofficial Document" across the face of the document. On August 21, 2007, Ready Cable received a letter dated August 16, 2007 from the county clerk's office stating that the clerk could not accept an unofficial document as an attachment. Ready Cable then filed a modified lien affidavit on September 17, 2007.

      RJP filed a summary motion to remove the invalid lien on the grounds that the lien was invalid since it was filed after the statutory deadline. The trial court granted RJP's motion and Ready Cable appealed. The Austin Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's decision and held that the lien should be deemed timely filed. In making this decision, the court stated that there was no authority that authorized the county clerk to refuse to file or record the affidavit. The court also stated that RJP did not dispute that it received actual notice of the August 15th lien filing and did not allege that it was otherwise misled to its prejudice.

      Justice Jan P. Patterson filed a dissenting opinion. In Judge Patterson's dissent she states that Ready Cable failed to re-present or amend the August 15th affidavit or pursue other remedies that were available at the time the clerk rejected the filing, such as a mandamus. Judge Patterson stated that since the Texas Property Code does not provide for an affidavit claiming lien to be filed after the applicable time period has expired, she would not hold Ready Cable's lien as valid.