What happened: A dredging subcontractor alleges it completed $453,263.68 in work on a federal lock project and was never paid.
Who's involved: Dubuque Barge and Fleeting Service Company, Pontiac Drywall Systems, Atlantic Specialty Insurance Company (Intact Financial subsidiary).
What's at stake: $453,263.68 plus interest - the entire subcontract amount, according to the complaint.
Why it matters: Miller Act bond claims put sureties directly in the firing line when general contractors fail to pay on federal projects.
Where it stands: Complaint filed October 28, 2026, in the Northern District of Iowa.
A subcontractor that hauls stone and works the river says it finished every item on a six-figure federal contract - and has not been paid a dollar.
Dubuque Barge and Fleeting Service Company, an Iowa marine services firm that also operates under the name Newt Marine Service, filed the complaint on October 28, 2026, in the US District Court for the Northern District of Iowa. The target is not the general contractor that hired it. It is the surety standing behind the payment bond: Atlantic Specialty Insurance Company, a New York-based insurer and indirect subsidiary of Intact Financial Corporation.
The project at the centre of the dispute is the Lock 11 Mooring Cell project on the Upper Mississippi River near Dubuque, Iowa - a job contracted by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The Army Corps awarded the prime contract to Pontiac Drywall Systems in September 2024 under Contract No. W912EK24C0037, the complaint states.
Dubuque Barge signed on as Pontiac's subcontractor in May 2025. The scope: barge services, dredging, rip rap loading, delivery and placement, bedding stone loading, delivery and placement - all in support of the mooring cell construction, according to the filing.
The original subcontract was worth $290,412, the complaint states. A modification added $162,851.68 in additional work, bringing the total to $453,263.68.
Dubuque Barge alleges it fully performed every item of work under the subcontract. Its last day on the project was October 31, 2025.
Not a cent has been paid. The complaint alleges the entire $453,263.68 remains outstanding "despite notice and demand."
On federal construction projects, subcontractors cannot place a lien on government property the way they can on a private job. The Miller Act fills that gap. It requires prime contractors on federal contracts to post a payment bond backed by a surety, guaranteeing that subcontractors and suppliers get paid for their work.
When a general contractor does not pay, the subcontractor's claim runs against the bond - and the surety that issued it.
Atlantic Specialty issued the Miller Act payment bond for Pontiac's Army Corps contract, the filing states. Dubuque Barge alleges Atlantic "has no cause to refuse to pay" and has breached its obligations under the bond.
The complaint seeks the full $453,263.68 plus interest and costs.
The suit is at its earliest stage. Atlantic Specialty has not yet responded. Dubuque Barge asserts it filed within the one-year window required by the Miller Act.
For surety claims teams, the case is a clean example of how a first-tier subcontractor's unpaid tab becomes the surety's problem once a Miller Act bond is in play - no matter what went wrong between the general contractor and the sub.
The allegations in the complaint have not been tested, and no court has ruled on the merits.
