Opinion ID: 596464
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Proportionate Responsibility for the Prime Contract

Text: 32 In determining whether there is a substantial and important relationship between the companies, courts also look at the secondary contract's percentage of the prime contract. Here the Tribe furnished all the gravel for the projects and the secondary contract's percentage of the prime contract ranges from five to nine percent (depending upon various factors contested by the parties). 33 While all courts agree proportionate responsibility is an important factor, there is no consensus in their interpretation of figures. For example, the percentage of the prime contract in courts finding a subcontractor relationship has ranged from 2.5%, Morrison-Knudson, 687 F.2d at 135 n. 3, to 15%, Miller Equip., 383 F.2d at 674. And the percentage of the prime contract in courts finding a materialman relationship has ranged from 2%, Gibson, 382 F.2d at 618, through 5.15%, Moon, 698 F.Supp. at 668, to 9%, Pioneer Steel, 398 F.Supp. at 721. 34 Although the Tribe furnished all the gravel for the project, see, e.g., Basich, 159 F.2d at 183, we find, even at a percentage figure most favorable to Conveyor Rental, that the percentage of the prime contract is indicative of a materialman relationship. This conclusion is based in part on the fact that nine percent overstates the importance of the gravel to the whole project considering the amount of work that had to be done to the gravel by other people for the road project to be completed.