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Can lost profits/wages be included in a miller act claim?

GeorgiaMiller Act

We were working a federal job in Georgia, and the property owner stopped the job due to a dispute about another sub's installation. They kept telling us we were about to start up again and go back to work, so we kept everything set up at the jobsite and didn't send crews out to work other jobs because of how this situation was handled. Now I'm filing a Miller Act claim: does state law allow me to claim lost wages and profits I would have been making during all that time we were waiting for the job to start up again.?

1 reply

Mar 20, 2019
That's a good question, and I'm sorry to hear about the trouble this job is giving you. When making a Miller Act claim after working on a federal project, that Miller Act claim is limited to the principal amount that's owed for work performed but unpaid. While other damages - such as lost profits - may very well be recoverable, for the Miller Act claim itself, those amounts are not permissible in a bond claim under the Act. Keep in mind, though - the Miller Act is not the only way to recover payments or damages when working on federal projects. So, if a subcontractor wants to pursue amounts exceeding what's permissible in a Miller Act claim, they can absolutely do so via some other method. Threatening legal action or actually filing suit for damages might help to recover such amounts. For more on Miller Act claims, including what amounts can be claimed, deadlines, and other info, this resource should be valuable: Miller Act FAQs.
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