Safeco Insurance Co. of America v. J. L. Henson, Inc.

‘ GUITTARD, Chief Justice.

Safeco Insurance Company, the surety on a subcontractor’s bond, paid a claim on the bond and sued the subcontractor, J. L. Henson, Inc., on its written indemnity agreement given at the time the bond was signed. The trial court excluded evidence of the payment on the ground that it was made in settlement of a suit brought against Safeco in the state of New York contrary to a provision in the bond limiting suits to the county in which the construction project was located. *We hold that the pendency of the New York suit did not affect Safeco’s authority under the…