In Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, Inc. v. Kern County Employees Retirement Assn. (1992) 5 Cal. App. 4th 1264, the plaintiff sought to foreclose a mechanic's lien against property owned by Kern County Employees Retirement Association (KCERA). The lien was for unpaid architectural design services. KCERA contended that the 31452 exemption prohibited an enforced sale of the property, which had been purchased with retirement funds. The appellate court concluded that the plaintiff's lien rights were guaranteed by article XIV, section 3 of the California Constitution. This section provides: "Mechanics, persons furnishing materials, artisans, and laborers of every class, shall have a lien upon the property upon which they have bestowed labor or furnished material for the value of such labor done and material furnished; and the Legislature shall provide, by law, for the speedy and efficient enforcement of such liens." The court held that section 31452 is invalid to the extent it would otherwise defeat a constitutionally guaranteed mechanic's lien: "Where a statute operates unambiguously to deprive a person of a constitutional guarantee, it is invalid, and the courts must so declare. " (Parsons, supra, 5 Cal. App. 4th at p. 1269.)