4th Circuit SpotlightA recent decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit addressed a dispute concerning a ship repair contract that the U.S. Navy signed with a company called East Coast Repair. East Coast Repair claimed the Navy owed money for the repairs. But the court's decision turned not on the ship repair contract, but on a settlement agreement the parties had recently signed to resolve a separate lawsuit on a separate contract. Based on its interpretation of the settlement agreement, the court held that East Coast Repair had settled and released the later claim.