Department of Transportation ex rel. Moline Consumers Co. v. American Insurance

Plaintiff, Moline Consumers Company, is a partially unpaid ($51,678.24) supplier of a subcontractor on a public project. Defendant, the American Insurance Company, is the surety upon the performance and payment bond. After a bench trial, judgment was entered for plaintiff in the amount of $16,024.62, without interest. The trial judge disallowed $35,653.62 of the amount admittedly due plaintiff from the subcontractor on the theory that plaintiff had prejudiced the surety, passing up an opportunity to intercept that amount out of the stream of payments from the contractor to the subcontractor.…