Know Your Bond Before You Sign

This article, coauthored by Mark H. McCallum, then NASBP General Counsel and Director of Government Relations (now NASBP CEO), and Robert J. Duke, SFAA’s Director of Underwriting and Assistant Counsel, provides insight into specific terms of a bond form. It examines language that triggers the surety’s liability, alters the burden of proof, increases the surety’s monetary liability beyond the bond’s original penal sum, limits the surety’s response options, and extends the duration of the surety’s liability. This article was published in the November 2008 Construction Business Owner magazine issue.