Carstensen Contracting, Inc. v. Mid-Dakota Rural Water System, Inc.

KONENKAMP, Justice.

[¶ 1.] In this construction contract dispute, we must decide whether a requirement in the contract that the general contractor pay “all claims growing out of the lawful demand of’ subcontractors, laborers, mechanics, materialmen, furnishers and suppliers means claims only on which a mechanic’s lien has been filed. In granting summary judgment, the circuit court held that the general contractor had no duty to pay the unpaid bills from a bankrupt subcontractor’s suppliers, since the suppliers filed no mechanic’s liens to secure their claims. Because the filing of a mechanic’s…