Whitfield & Eddy maintains an active presence in the area of surety, fidelity, and bond coverage.  Attorney Ben Ullem is a member of the Fidelity and Surety Law Committee of the Tort and Insurance Practice Section of the ABA; the Forum Committee on Construction Industry, Bonds, Liens and Insurance; the National Bond Claims Association; and the Surety Claims Institute.  John Fatino is a  member of the ABA Forum on the Construction Industry.  In addition to advising clients and litigating construction and surety matters, John is the co-author of several articles:  “Defeating the Bad Faith Claim Against the Miller Act Surety,” Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Newsletter (of ABA-TIPS)(Summer 2003); “Mechanic’s Liens in Iowa,” Business Credit (July-August 2002); “Case Note: United States ex rel. PCC Const. v. Star Ins. Co.,” Surety Claims Institute Newsletter (Jan. 2002); “Evidence of a Surety Found to be Inadmissable Under Fed. R. Evid. 411 and Recent Successful Attempts to Bifurcate Proceedings Involving Sureties,”  The Critical Path 4 (Fall 1997).  John has also made presentations on construction litigation and surety matters to the Surety Underwriters Association of Iowa for the last several years, and he presented at the Iowa State Bar Association’s Bridge the Gap seminar concerning mechanic’s liens.