Foreclosure on Mortgage and Liens. LaSalle Bank loaned

$8 million to Cypress Creek 1, LP, to build an apartment complex. The loan was secured by a mortgage. Cypress Creek hired contractors to provide concrete work, plumbing, carpentry, and other construction services. Cypress Creek went bankrupt, owing LaSalle $3 million. The contractors recorded mechanic’s liens (see page 543 in Chapter 21) when they did not get paid for their work. The property was sold to LaSalle at a sheriff’s sale for $1.3 million. The contractors claimed that they should be paid the amounts they were owed out of the $1.3 million and that the mechanic’s liens should be satisfied before any funds were distributed to LaSalle for its mortgage.

The trial court distributed the $1.3 million primarily to LaSalle, with only a small fraction going to the contractors.

Do the liens come before the mortgage in priority of payment?

Discuss. [LaSalle Bank National Association v. Cypress Creek 1, LP, 242 Ill.2d 231, 950 N.E.2d 1109 (2011)] (See pages 584–586.)