Surety and Bond Practice
Offering High-Value and Experienced Representation to All Types of Bond Providers
WWHGD provides high quality, cost effective representation of its surety clients. WWHGD understands the “bottom line” nature of our clien
ts’ businesses and our representation of our surety clients reflects that understanding. To that end, WWHGD’s experience allows us to provide our surety clients with a wide array of claims prevention methods and strategies. If, however, claims assistance does become necessary, WWHGD’s surety attorneys possess the requisite experience needed to effectively and efficiently resolve surety claims via aggressive negotiation and/or mediation. If our surety clients’ claims must be litigated or arbitrated, WWHGD is particularly well suited to assist as WWHGD’s arbitration and trial experience is extensive.
WWHGD’s surety practice is also supported by its construction group, which allows us to provide our surety clientele a depth and breadth of, literally, hundreds of years of collective experience. WWHGD’s surety attorneys have effectively assisted its surety clients with all types of surety matters including:
- Bond Claims Defense – WWHGD’s surety attorneys understand that not all bonds are “created equal.” Our experience with all types and variations of bond forms, including contract surety, commercial surety, court and probate, U.S. custom as well as fiduciary and fidelity bonds, enables us to help our surety clients with whatever bond claim assistance they may need. WWHGD’s attorneys use their experience and practical approach to formulate the best possible solution to a claims situation. WWHGD appreciates the wide range of dynamics that might accompany any bond claim situation and employs creative and cost effective approaches to resolving claims. Indeed, a few years ago, one of WWHGD’s surety attorneys was asked to, and did, provide the American Bar Association with a lecture to its members regarding various alternative strategies that can be used to effectively and efficiently resolve bond claims. As part of any fairly significant bond claim defense, WWHGD also recognizes that consultants, accountants or engineers may need to be engaged to assist with the resolution of a claim. When this becomes necessary, WWHGD helps the client manage consultants in order to provide the best overall representation possible. WWHGD’s attorneys cost effectively and efficiently represent their surety clients in connection with both private and public bond matters, including Miller Act and Little Miller Act claims all across the country.
- Cost Mitigation/Salvage Assistance – As part of WWHGD’s “top to bottom” surety representation capabilities, our surety attorneys are also trained and experienced with assisting our clients with all types of salvage efforts that may become necessary to manage the overall claim resolution process. In this regard, WWHGD’s commercial litigation experience is particularly helpful to our surety clients as we aggressively prosecute our clients’ rights to recover monies that may be owed based on indemnity, assignment, subrogation or any other rights the client may possess. Our aggressive, yet efficient pursuit of salvage claims may involve asset investigation techniques when needed to discover the identity and location of third-party assets that enable our clients to recover on their claims. Our surety attorneys use all the tools the law allows to provide “cash in pocket” salvage recovery. As an example, one of the firm’s surety attorneys recently was successful in obtaining a pre-judgment attachment in the amount of $3.75 million which allowed the client to freeze an indemnitor’s assets even before a final judgment was obtained. That pre-judgment attachment became particularly powerful after a multi-million-dollar judgment was obtained against an indemnitor on a Motion for Summary Judgment.
- Claims Avoidance Techniques – WWHGD also provides in-house training and seminars to better equip its surety clients with the tools and strategies necessary to avoid problems. WWHGD’s claims avoidance programs are tailored to each of our clients’ needs including the incorporation of underwriting strategies, specific bond forms, notice letters, claims procedures and agreements of indemnity. WWHGD appreciates our client's various cultural considerations and philosophies, which enables us to provide the most effective assistance possible.