Companies with COG (Customer Owned Goods) accounts might be interested to know that in many if not all states the law creates an automatic lien on a customer’s laundered textiles that secures payment for the laundry services provided. What that means is that a laundry company has a legal right to (i) hold a customer’s textiles that it has processed and (ii) refuse to return them until payment is received.
 
In Maryland where I practice, as in other states, the concept is rooted in the common law, created by judges as opposed to statutes. There is an ...