The United States Supreme Court case of United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company v. United States for the Use and Benefit of Struthers Wells Company in 1907 revolved around a dispute over payment for work done under a government contract. The defendant, U.S. Fidelity & Guaranty Co., was acting as surety on a bond provided by the contractor who had defaulted on their obligations to pay Struthers Wells Co., the subcontractor, for its services rendered under that contract. The main issue before the court was whether or not U.S.F.&G.Co could be held liable to pay Struthers Wells directly due to this default by the principal contractor. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Struthers Wells stating that when there is an explicit stipulation within a federal construction contract requiring contractors to provide payment bonds with sureties, those sureties are liable if payments aren't made properly even if they have no direct contractual relationship with unpaid parties (subcontractors). This decision established important precedent regarding liability issues related to performance bonds in federal contracts.

The dissenting opinion in the case of United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company v. United States for the Use and Benefit of Struthers Wells Company disagreed with the majority's interpretation of a federal statute regarding surety bonds. The dissent argued that, under this statute, a principal contractor who defaults on their obligations should be held liable before any claims are made against their surety (guarantor). They contended that by allowing subcontractors to directly sue the guarantor without first exhausting all remedies against the principal contractor, it undermines both common law principles and legislative intent behind such statutes. This could potentially expose guarantors to greater risk than they had initially agreed upon when entering into these contracts. Therefore, they believed that subcontractors should only be allowed to pursue claims against guarantors after proving unsuccessful in obtaining satisfaction from defaulting contractors.