Question

The City of Atlanta awarded a contract to a general contractor to construct an irrigation dam. The contract stipulates some amount for liquidated damages for delay. After the construction has started, the City had to make some corrections to the plan which consequently affected the contractor's schedule. The contractor did not ask for extension of time or propose a change order to the contract. The contractor completed the work 15 days behind the schedule. The City sued for liquidated damages for the delay. The contractor argued that the delay was caused by the City when it it was amending the plan.

Discussion:

Do you think the Contractor is liable for the delay? How do you think the court will rule in this case? Discuss.

Answer 1

Contract is a binding document on both parties signing it. Any time a party violates it the other party must go for relief immediately by enforcing the relevant contract clause and asking for extension or change order etc as applicable.

In this case ,when the City made corrections to the plan , the contractor should have pressed for extension of time and a change order to enforce and register his claim.By not doing so ,the the contractor has accepted the change in totality without any extension of time.

So when the contractor finished the work 15 days behind schedule , he had no contractual support and so is liable for delay.The city did the right thing by pressing for the liquidated damages.

In my view the contractor is liable for delay and expect the court to rule the same.