Citations
- 229 F. Supp. 873
Full opinion text
BEN C. DAWKINS, JR., Chief Judge.
This action is brought for the use and benefit of plaintiff, General Electric Company (GE), who furnished supplies for construction of the Barksdale Air Force Base Defense Area’s Nike-Hercules Facilities at Bellevue, Louisiana.
GE executed a contract with a subcontractor, Mojave Electric Company, Inc. (Mojave), but had no contractual relationship with the general contractor. Nevertheless, the Miller Act, 40 U.S.C. § 270a et seq., conferred upon the subcontractor’s materialmen a cause of action on the payment bond required to be given by the general contractor to the Government. It is upon this bond that GE’s action against the general contractor, Southern Construction Company, Inc., (Southern), and its surety, Continental Casualty Co. (Continental), is based.
A joint stipulation of facts has been submitted by the plaintiff and all defendants except the subcontractor, Mojave, which is, bankrupt and has not contested the validity of plaintiff’s claim against it. The case is submitted on cross motions for summary judgment based upon the pleadings, affidavits, and stipulated facts.
For the reasons here assigned, we conclude that plaintiff has no right of action against Southern and its surety, Continental, or the subcontractor’s surety, National Union Indemnity Insurance Company (Indemnity). It is stipulated that National Union Insurance Companies and National Union Fire Insurance Company were not sureties of the subcontractor and had nothing to do with the job involved.
. Section 270b(b) of Title 40’U.S.C. provides :
■“Every suit instituted under this section shall be brought in the name of the United States for the use of the person suing, in the United States District Court for any district in which the contract was to be performed and executed and not elsewhere, irrespective of the amount in controversy in such suit, but no such suit shall be commenced after the expiration of one year after the day on which the last of the labor was performed or material was supplied by him. The United States shall not be liable for the payment of any costs