Opinion ID: 739933
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Indemnity Rights of Surety

Text: 52 Finally, the surety requests that this court increase its judgment against the subcontractor to compensate the surety for paying the supplier $20,000 to settle the supplier's claim against the subcontractor. The surety claims that its performance bond with the subcontractor entitles the surety to reimbursement. The subcontractor admits that the surety, on behalf of the subcontractor, settled the supplier's claim for $20,000, CFI Br. at 6; CFI Reply Br. at 10, but the parties never provided the magistrate judge with an opportunity to rule on this issue. Accordingly, we remand this issue for further proceedings in accordance with the seemingly undisputed facts presented by the parties. 53 In addition, the contractor argues that the subcontract entitles the contractor to withhold $30,010 from the subcontractor's judgment as security until the subcontractor provides an unconditional waiver or release of lien by the supplier. See Appellant App. at 516. The court record, however, appears to contain such a release of the supplier's claim against the contractor. See Appellee CFI App. at 26. Because the contractor's claim appears to question whether the surety settled the supplier's claim, we refer the matter to the magistrate judge to resolve in conjunction with the surety's claim for indemnification.