Facts

Ohio Casualty Insurance Co. sued L.H. Engineering Co., Paul Lee, and Yong Lee, in connection with a contract dispute.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff alleged that in July 2011, defendants executed a written General Agreement of Indemnity in favor of plaintiff. Pursuant to the agreement, defendants agreed to indemnify and hold plaintiff harmless for any and all loss sustained or incurred by reason of plaintiff having executed any and all bonds at the request of the indemnitors. In consideration of the agreement, plaintiff executed and issued contract bonds for various public works projects in the State of California to enable L.H. Engineering to bid and be awarded contracts for those projects. Later, several cities and agencies filed claims on the bonds plaintiff had issued for L.H. Engineering due to its failure to complete certain projects. In response, plaintiff demanded indemnitors/defendants to post cash collateral in excess of $1 million. However, indemnitors failed to do so, prompting plaintiff to sue them for breach of contract, statutory reimbursement, specific performance of indemnity agreement, quia tiet, and constructive trust. Additionally, plaintiff moved for summary judgment.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS:
Defendants denied plaintiff's allegations, and asserted various affirmative defenses.

Damages

Ohio Casualty requested at least $1,101,985 in damages.

Result

The court granted Ohio Casualty's motion for summary judgment. Accordingly, it entered judgment in favor of Ohio Casualty, and against defendants for the principal sum of $1,682,660 and $103,442 in prejudgment interest for a total sum of $1,786,101.

Other Information

FILING DATE: Aug. 15, 2013.