The Lex Machina team is excited to launch Legal Analytics for litigation involving surety bonds (the “Surety Bond Module”). Surety bond litigation involves a bonded construction contract in which (1) an obligee is claiming against a construction bond or a Miller Act bond, (2) a principal or obligee is asserting a breach of construction contract claim, or (3) a surety is alleging a breach of indemnity agreement against the principal and its indemnitors. Note that at present, this case type does not include cases involving surety bonds other than construction bonds.

Consisting of approximately 10,000 cases, the new Surety Bond Module gives practitioners critical insights on judges, courts, law firms, attorneys, and parties involved in surety bond litigation.

The Surety Bond Module incorporates a filter for cases involving Miller Act Claims. It also incorporates an extensive collection of practice area-specific damages and findings. The inclusion of these unique parameters enables users to find the most relevant information and analytics quickly and easily.

With our new Surety Bond Module, you can quickly and efficiently discover insights such as:

  • The total amount of surety bond damages awarded since 2009, excluding attorneys’ fees, is $2.3 billion.
  • The District Court for the District of Maryland had the highest number of Miller Act Claim cases filed.
  • Top defendants in surety bond cases include Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, and Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland.
  • Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald is the top law firm both representing Plaintiffs or Defendants in Surety Bond litigation.
  • The median time to termination for surety bond cases is 278 days.
  • Claimant sureties won a substantial number of times on indemnity actions against their principals at default judgment and summary judgment.
  • The majority of the Miller Act cases are resolved procedurally.

Lex Machina allows users to filter by the following information in order to find the most relevant cases:

  • Damages – Contract Damages (Surety Bond), Tort Compensatory Damages (Surety Bond)
  • Findings
    Obligee Findings: Breach of Bond by Surety, Breach of Contract by Principal
    Principal Findings: Breach of Contract by Obligee, Breach of Indemnity by Surety
    Surety Findings: Breach of Bond by Obligee, Breach of Indemnity by Principal, Subrogated Breach of Contract
    Torts and Defenses: Contract Defense, Fraud / Misrepresentation by Obligee, Fraud / Misrepresentation by Principal, Fraud / Misrepresentation by Surety, Negligence, Time-Barred Defense
  • Remedies – Exoneration, Quia Timet

 

 

Depending on your subscription, users can access the Surety Bond Module data now.

To learn more, contact our sales team.