MENLO PARK, CA — Lex Machina, a LexisNexis company, today released its Surety Bond Litigation Report.
According to a press release, the report examines trends in surety bond litigation, which are comprised of bonded construction contracts in which either (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.
The report focuses on the five-year period from 2017 to 2021 and surveys emerging trends in case filings, venues, judges, law firms, parties, timing metrics, case resolutions, findings, and damages. The report often focuses on different sets of data, e.g., filtering cases in order to provide analytics on cases with claims under the Miller Act.
“We’re excited to release this report, which is significant in two key ways,” said Kristal Mendoza-Bautista, Lex Machina's surety bond legal data expert and editor of the report. “One, it highlights data and analytics from one of our newest federal practice areas. Two, the insights themselves were intriguing - we could see the effect of various events on case filing trends, and we could see the predominance of specific insurance companies and counsel in the lists of the most active parties and law firms.”
Findings from the report include:
- Since 2012, the number of surety bond cases have declined steadily to 409 cases filed in 2021, the lowest number of any year in the past decade.
- The most active district court for surety bond litigation over the last five years was the District of Maryland.
- Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America was both the most active plaintiff and the most active defendant in surety bond cases filed from 2017 to 2021.
- Krebs Farley & Dry represented plaintiffs in the highest number of surety bond cases over the past five years, while Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald - represented defendants in the highest number of cases during the same period.
- The median time to termination was 294 days for surety bond cases terminated from 2017 to 2021.
- For surety bond cases that were resolved on substantive grounds, claimants won 11 times more often than claim defendants, primarily on default judgment and summary judgment.
- The highest total damages awarded in surety bond litigation over the five-year period from 2017 to 2021 was in the category of Contract Damages with $541 million in damages.
Lex Machina’s reports and software enable practitioners to devise data-driven litigation strategies. The metrics in this report can help readers decide who to pursue as clients, whether to file a particular motion, or when to settle (and for how much). This research supplements traditional legal research and anecdotal data for a competitive edge in court.
Register here for a copy of the report.