Four Star Enterprises Equipment, Inc., RGH v. Employers Mutual Casualty Co.

This case involving section 107.1701 comes to us on a $20,000 claim, with two separate lawsuits and seventeen years of litigation. Under section 107.170, “[s]tatutory payment bonds shift the ultimate risk of nonpayment from [eligible] workman and suppliers to the surety on public work projects,” and offer eligible “laborers and materialmen some assurance of payment.” City of Kansas City, Missouri ex rel. Lafarge North America Inc. v. Ace Pipe Cleaning, Inc., 349 S.W.3d 399, 403-04 (Mo.App.W.D.2011). In Missouri, public property “is protected from,” and “cannot be encumbered by,” mechanic’s…