Need Help With Mechanics Lien Issue

[Allison Lozano]

Hello Everyone and thank you in advance for any help! I am an out of state investor working in Cleveland. I had a contractor that I had to fire last month for a multitude of reasons (using my materials on his other job, extremely substandard work that has to be redone by someone else now, not paying his subs,  lying about work being completed that was not actually done, etc). I flew in unexpectedly to confirm and subsequently fired him. He was paid in full for what was done, in fact he currently owes me money. I just found out that he filed liens on 3 of my properties after he was fired, illegally clouding the titles.  I was not notified of anything by anyone, I found out about the liens from the lender I am currently refinancing a property with.

Has anyone dealt with this issue and if so, how did you handle it? 

How do I get these liens removed?

Does anyone have an attorney referral in Cuyahoga that can help with this?

How do I protect myself against this in the future?

Any help is greatly appreciated!