Global Claims

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    GLOBAL CLAIMS

    BY

    ROGER KNOWLES

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    GLOBAL CLAIMS

    Background

    The proper manner of presenting a claim where a legally binding decision is required

    is to link the cause, whether relating to delay, cost or other matter which forms the

    basis of the claim, with the effect. For example, if an Architect or Engineer is six

    weeks late in issuing to the contractor drawings for the foundations this would

    represent a typical cause being a breach of contract. The effect may be a six weeks

    delay to the completion of the works. To succeed in this claim the contractor would

    normally be expected to link the cause with its effect. The linking of cause and effect

    of delays and extra cost may not be difficult if they can be dealt with in isolation but

    often they arrive in significant numbers which creates a problem when trying to

    identify each cause and its effect. Contractors and subcontractors have overcome the

    problem by producing global or rolled up claims. As this type of claim does notsatisfy the rule of linking cause and effect a substantial number of cases have come

    before the courts for a ruling.

    .

    Keating On Building Contracts 7th Edition at page 546 states:

    Contractors often have claims dependent on a number of separate causes each of

    which has contributed to delay and extra cost. In principle, the loss attributable

    to each cause should be separately identified and particularised, but separation

    may be difficult.

    In recent times contractors and subcontractors have been ever willing to short cut the

    need to link cause and effect by the use of the global claim. Where this occurs all

    causes of delay and extra cost are lumped together and one overall effect given as a

    consequence. The editors of Building Law Reports explained the global claim in the

    following terms in their commentary on the case of Wharf Properties Ltd v Eric

    Cumine Associates (1991):

    Global claims are ones where the connections between the matters complained of

    and their consequences, whether in terms of time or money, are not fully spelled

    out.

    In the Australian case of John Holland Construction v Kvaerner R J Brown (1996) the

    judge described a global claim as one where the claimant does not seek to attribute

    any specific loss to a specific breach of contract, but is content to allege a composite

    loss as a result of all the breaches alleged or presumably as a result of such breaches

    as are ultimately proved.

    Support for Global Claims

    Contractors who present global claims by way of justification usually quote the

    decision in the case of J Crosby and Sons Ltd v Portland Urban District Council(1967). In this case the contract overran by 46 weeks. The arbitrator held that the

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    contractor was entitled to compensation in respect of 31 weeks of the overall delay,

    and he awarded a lump sum rather than giving individual periods of delay against

    nine delaying matters. The respondent contested the award arguing that the arbitrator

    was wrong in providing a lump sum delay without giving individual periods in respect

    of each head of claim. Justice Donaldson however agreed with the arbitrator in that

    due to the complex interaction of one delay with another:

    The result in terms of delay and disorganisation of each of the matters referred

    to above was a continuing one. As each matter occurred its consequences were

    added to the consequences of the matters which had preceded it. The delay and

    disorganisation which ultimately resulted was cumulative and attributable to the

    combined effect of all these matters.

    I can see no reason why he (the arbitrator) should not recognise the realities of

    the situation and make individual awards in respect of those parts of individual

    items of claim which can be dealt with in isolation and a supplementary award in

    respect of the remainder of these claims as a composite whole.

    Similar support was provided in the decision of London Borough of Merton v Stanley

    Hugh Leach (1985) where Mr Justice Vinelott stated:

    The loss or expense attributable to each head of claim cannot in reality be

    separated..

    If an application is made.for reimbursement of direct loss and expense

    attributable to more than one head of claim and at the time when the loss or

    expense comes to be ascertained, it is impractical to disentangle or disintegrate

    the part directly attributable to each head of claim, then provided of course that

    the contractor has not unreasonably delayed in making the claim and so has

    himself created the difficulty, the Architect must ascertain the global loss

    attributable to the two causes

    Hard Line Approach

    A somewhat tougher stance was taken in respect of global claims in the Hong Kong

    case of Wharf Properties Ltd v Eric Cumine Associates (1991). In this case the

    plaintiff made no attempt to link the cause with the effect in respect of a claim by the

    employer against he Architect for failure properly to manage, control, co-ordinate,

    supervise and administer the work of the contractors and subcontractors as a result ofwhich the project was delayed with substantial additional costs being incurred.

    Six specific periods of delay were involved but the statement of claim did not show

    how they were caused by the defendants breaches. The plaintiff pleaded that due to

    the complexity of the project, the interrelationship and very large number of delaying

    and disruptive factors and their inevitable knock-on effects. it was impossible at the

    pleadings stage to identify and isolate individual delays in the manner the defendant

    required and that this would not be known until the trial.

    The defendant succeeded in an application to strike out the statement of claim. The

    Court of Appeal in Hong Kong decided that the pleadings were hopelessly

    embarrassing as they stood some seven years after the action began and an

    unparticularised pleading in such a form should not be allowed to stand.

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    The matter was referred to the Privy Council in London in view of the apparent

    differing view taken in the Crosby and London Borough of Merton cases. The Privy

    Council however rejected the argument that these two decisions justified an

    unparticularised pleading. Lord Oliver had this to say:

    Those case establish no more than this, that in cases where the full extent ofextra cost incurred through delay depend upon a complex interaction between

    the consequence of various events, so that it may be difficult to make an accurate

    apportionment of the total extra costs it may be proper for an arbitrator to make

    individual financial awards in respect of claims which can conveniently be dealt

    with in isolation and a supplementary award in respect of the financial

    consequences of the remainder as a composite whole. This has however no

    bearing upon the obligation of a plaintiff to plead its case with such particularity

    as is sufficient to alert the opposite party to the case which is going to be made

    against them at the trial. The failure even to attempt to specify any

    discernible nexus between the wrong alleged and the consequent delay provides

    to use counsels phrase no agenda for the trial.

    The editors of Building Law Reports Volume 52 at page 6 made the following

    observations regarding the effect of the Eric Cumine decision:

    This in turn will mean that those responsible for the preparation and

    presentation of claims of this kind will need to work hard with those who have

    first-hand knowledge of the event so as to provide an adequate description of

    them. Equally it will mean that proper records will need to be kept or good use

    will have to be made of existing records to provide the necessary detail. It will no

    longer be possible to call in an outsider who will simply list all the possible causes

    of complaint and then by use of a series of chosen weasel words try to avoid

    having to give details of the consequences of those events before proceeding to

    show how great the hole was in the pocket of the claimant.

    Use of a Scott Schedule

    The purpose of using a Scott Schedule, which is popular among judges in the

    Technical and Construction Court, is to define and state all the issues clearly by

    assembling all the relevant claims and responses in a tabular form. There is no

    standard layout for a Scott Schedule each one can be tailored to suit individualcircumstances.

    In the case of Imperial Chemical Industries v Bovis Construction Ltd and Others

    (1992) Judge Fox Andrews QC ordered the plaintiff to serve a Scott Schedule. The

    case was complicated and there was more than one defendant, therefore a need for

    clarity was paramount. The Scott Schedule was required to contain:

    the alleged complaints giving rise to each claim

    the defendant against whom each claim was made

    which clause(s) in the contract had been breached

    alleged consequences of each claim

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    A completely different approach was taken in the case of GMTC Tools and

    Equipment Ltd v Yuasa Warwick Machinery Ltd (1994). The case had nothing to do

    with construction but related to a defective computer precision lathe which was to be

    used in the manufacture of blanks which in turn were machined to become rotary

    cutters. The principles employed in the case would apply equally to construction

    cases. The lathe did not operate as intended and the plaintiff prepared and submitted aclaim based on the number of management hours involved in dealing with the

    problem and the number of hours during which the lathe was inoperable. Difficulties

    arose when the defendant sought further and better particulars of the claim. The judge

    ordered that a Scott Schedule should be drawn up providing detailed information

    attempting to link cause being the malfunctioning of the lathe with the effect being the

    wasted management time and the purchase of blanks to replace lost production. The

    plaintiff experienced difficulty in complying with the order and the matter came

    before the Court of Appeal. It was the view of Lord Justice Leggatt that a judge is not

    entitled to prescribe the way in which the quantum of damage is to be pleaded. No

    judge is entitled to require a party to establish causation and loss by a particular

    method.

    There are as can be seen two distinctly different approaches to the same problem

    which is not very helpful if one is preparing or responding to a claim.

    Striking Out Orders

    It can be seen from the case of Wharf Properties Ltd v Eric Cumine Associates that

    the courts in Hong Kong are prepared to strike out a claim thus depriving the plaintiff

    of any entitlement if it considered that the claim had not been prepared and presented

    in an acceptable manner. The case of British Airways Pension Trustees v Sir Robert

    McAlpine and Sons (1994) was to establish whether the courts in the UK would in

    turn be prepared to take a robust approach. The case arose out of a project in Croydon.

    There were defects in the work which were alleged to be due to faults by the Architect

    the contractor and others. It was argued that as a result of the defects the value of the

    completed work in the open market had dropped by 3.1m. The defendants requested

    that further and better particulars be provided in respect of the claim. They asked to be

    given detailed information as to how much of the loss in value could be attributed to

    each and every defect. For example if two windows were defective how did it affect

    the value of the property. The plaintiffs argued on a global basis by saying that the

    result of all the defect put together was a reduction in the value of the property in thesum of 3.1m. As the plaintiff was not prepared or was unable to provide more

    detailed information an application was made to strike out the claim. Judge Fox

    Andrews ordered the claim to be struck out, but his decision was overturned by the

    Court of Appeal. Lord Justice Saville in summing up said:

    The basic purpose of pleadings is to enable the opposing party to know what case

    is being made in sufficient detail to enable that party properly to answer it. To

    my mind it seems that in recent years there has been a tendency to forget this

    basic purpose and to seek particularisation even when it is not really required.

    This is not only costly in itself but is calculated to lead to delay and to

    interlocutory battles in which the parties and the courts pore over endless pagesof pleadings to see whether or not some particular points have or have not been

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    raised or answered when in truth each party knows perfectly well what case is

    made by the other and is able properly to prepare to deal with it. Pleadings are

    not a game to be played at the expense of citizens nor an end in themselves but a

    means to the end and that end is to give each party a fair hearing.

    Assessment

    From the decision in the case of Amec Building Ltd v Cadmus Investment Co Ltd it

    seems that the courts judge every case on its merits without laying down any hard and

    fast rule as to whether claims submitted on a global basis should be rejected. This case

    resulted form an arbitrators award which involved a claim for disruption. The

    contractors claim totalled circa 150,000 submitted on a global basis. In finding in

    favour of the contractor the arbitrator awarded only 5,000. The contractor appealed

    on the basis that the arbitrator had virtually dismissed the claim on the grounds that it

    had been submitted on a global basis. The court did not accept this argument

    concluding that the arbitrator had not been convince by the evidence that the

    contractors claim could be justified and had substitute a figure of 5,000. The judgein arriving at his decision had this to say:

    Certainly it seems to me that there is no substance in the complaint that the

    arbitrator had set his face against global claims and that thereby prejudiced

    Amec. What appears to have happened is that upon justifiable complaint of lack

    of particularity the arbitrator insisted upon an allocation of the overall claim to

    particular heads which was an attempted by Amec and when these matters were

    investigated by the accountants and in evidence and cross examination it clearly

    became quite clear to the arbitrator that there were occasion of duplications,

    matters compensated elsewhere and a general lack of particularisation. In those

    circumstances it seems to be that the arbitrator concluded that the plaintiff had

    not proved the costs incurred were due to the fault of Cadmus.As is clear from

    the careful judgement of the arbitrator he proceeded to analyse each of the

    claims made by Amec and decided each upon the evidence that was before him.

    Total Cost Claims

    Global claims come in various forms. It is not uncommon for the contractor to claim

    the recovery of all the costs incurred in the project plus profit less the amount certified

    and paid on the basis that but for the matters included in the claim the contractorwould have recovered them all. This is often referred to as a total cost claim. This

    method was adopted in the case of Inserco Ltd v Honeywell Control Systems (1996)

    where the judges comments make interesting reading:

    Insercos pleaded case provided sufficient agenda for the trial and the issues for

    the trial and the issues are about quantification. Both Crosby v Portland District

    Council and London Borough of Merton v Stanley Hugh Leach concerned the

    application of contractual clauses. However I see no reason in principle why I

    should not follow the same approach in the assessment of the amount to which

    Inserco may be entitled. There is here as in Crosby an extremely complex

    interaction between the consequences of the various breaches, variations andadditional works and in my judgement it is impossible to make an accurate

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    apportionment of the total extra cost between the several causative events. I do

    not think that even an artificial apportionment could be made it would

    certainly be extremely contrived even in relation to the few occasions where

    figures could be put on time etcIt is not possible to disentangle the various

    elements of Insercos claims from each other. In my view the cases show that it

    is legitimate to make a global award of a sum of money in the circumstances ofthis somewhat unusual case which will encompass the total costs recoverable

    under the February agreement, the effect of the various breaches which would

    be re4vocerable as damages or which entitle Inserco to have their total cost

    assessed to take account of such circumstances and the reasonable value of the

    additional works similarly so assessed.

    In How Engineering Services Ltd v Linder Ceilings and Partitions (1999) the

    arbitrator Mr Jupp awarded a sum in respect of loss and expense, based upon a global

    assessment. The dispute arose out of two contracts, the Atrium and the Station. In

    finding for the claimant the arbitrator accepted the claimants costs as set out in the

    points of claim and arrived at a figure of 130,346. From this he deducted 4,186 inrespect of work carried out prior to the receipt of the notice, 32,611 in respect of

    realignment of ceilings which was treated as a variation order, and 3,155 for

    remedial works. The award was thus based on a total cost claim calculated on a global

    basis against which the defendant appealed arguing that the arbitrator had not

    ascertained the sum as require by the arbitration clause. It was the view of the court

    that in some cases the facts are not always clear. Different tribunals would reach

    different conclusions and an arbitrator is entitled to assess loss and expense in the

    same way as a court assessing damages. The court upheld the arbitrators award.

    In the case of Berhards Rugby Lanscapes Ltd v Stockley Park Consortium (1997) the

    plaintiff landscape contractor entered into an agreement under seal with Trust

    Securities Holdings for the construction of a golf course on a landfill site under a

    contract which incorporated the ICE 5th Edition . The work was subject to delay and

    detailed and lengthy claims were submitted. It was alleged by the defendant that the

    claims were bound to fail due to a number of reasons one of which was that they

    contained global delay claims for variations. It was held by the court that the global

    claim was a total cost claim. The plaintiff had qualified its alleged loss by

    subcontracting the expected cost of the works from the final costs. Such a claim was

    permissible if it was impractical to disentangle that part of the costs attributable to

    each head of claim and the situation had not been caused by the plaintiffs conduct. In

    such circumstances the inference was that the employers breaches had led toadditional costs and that the cause nexus was to be inferred rather than demonstrated.

    Significant Losses Caused By The Contractor

    The case of John Doyle Construction Ltd v Laing Management (Scotland) Ltd (2004)

    was heard in the Scottish Inner House Court of Session had to decide whether in

    principle global claims were bound to fail.Lang Management was the management

    contractor for the construction of the new corporate headquarters for Scottish Widows

    in Edinburgh. A number of works packages were contracted out to John Doyle. An

    action was brought by John Doyle seeking an extension of time of 22 weeks together

    with loss and expense. John Doyle admitted that despite their best efforts it was

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    impossible to identify cause and effect in respect of each item which caused delay and

    disruption and this was why the claim had been prepared on a global basis.

    It was argued on behalf of Laing that the basis of the global claim was that all the

    additional costs incurred by John Doyle resulted from the delay and disruption caused

    by Laing. This being the case if one of the events relied upon by Doyle was shown not

    to have been caused by Laing then the case would be undermined. The judge wassympathetic to this view but felt the whole matter should be treated with common

    sense. However the situation may have been different if a significant amount of the

    loss could be shown to have been caused by Doyle. The judges view was that if a

    global claim is to succeed the contractor must eliminate from the claim all costs that

    are not the responsibility of the employer. He considered global claims to be a risky

    business but nonetheless allowed proceedings to continue.

    A similar situation arose in the case of Great Eastern Hotel Company Ltd v John

    Laing Construction Ltd (2005). In this case the employer brought an action against the

    contractor in respect of the refurbishment of the Great Eastern Hotel in London. The

    contract was a construction management contract and it was alleged that thecontractor was in breach of the construction management agreement. The claim

    against the contractor included claims which had been made by the works contractors

    which the employer was bound to pay. It was alleged that some of these claims

    resulted from failures by the contractor. These claims were global and if the employer

    was to succeed the court had to be satisfied that there should be deducted from the

    causes of loss all matters which were not the responsibility of the employer.

    The Society of Construction Law Delay and Disruption Protocol

    The Society of Construction Law Delay and Disruption Protocol provides a view

    concerning global claims which accords with many of the judgements to which

    reference has already been made. However some of the views seem a little off line

    from what has been decided by the courts. In summary the views expressed in the

    Protocol are:

    1. The not uncommon practice of contractors making composite or global claims

    without substantiating cause and effect is discouraged by the Protocol and

    rarely accepted by the courts.(This does not appear to be correct as in all the

    above referred to cases only in the Hong Kong decision in Wharf Properties

    was the case dismissed for being global).

    2. If the contractor has made and maintained accurate and complete records the

    contractor should be able to establish the causal link between the employer

    risk event and the resultant loss and or expense suffered without the need to

    make a global claim.

    3. In what should only be rare cases where the financial consequences of the

    various causes of compensation are impossible to distinguish so that an

    accurate apportionment of the compensation claimed cannot be made between

    the several causative events, then in this rare situation it is acceptable to

    quantify individually those items of the claim which can be dealt with inisolation and claim compensation for the remainder as a composite whole. (It

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    seems fanciful of the Protocol to suggest that this situation is rare when in

    reality it is commonplace)

    4. The contractor will nevertheless need to set out the details of the employer risk

    events relied on and the compensation claimed with sufficient particularity so

    that the employer knows the case that is being made against him.

    Summary

    The basic rule when submitting a claim for delay and or additional cost is that there is

    a need to link individually the causes of delay and extra cost with the effect. However

    the complexity of contemporary claims sometimes needs to be dealt with by a global

    approach. However a careful balance needs to be made between the practical

    difficulties of claimants and the rights of the defendants to know the case they have to

    answer in adequate detail.

    A question which is often asked is whether a claim which does not properly link causewith effect will fail. It depends upon the circumstance. Good advice to claimants is to

    ensure that they eliminate from the claim any delay or cost which is not the fault of

    the other party. In the final analysis a global claim is unlikely to fail merely because it

    has been prepared on a global basis, however any award is likely to be modest.

    Some of the text in this module has been extracted from 150 Contractual Problems

    and Their Solutions 2nd Edition by Roger Knowles published by Blackwell Publishing

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    STANDARD QUESTIONS

    1. What is a global claim.

    2. In what manner did the decisions in the cases of Crosby and Sons Ltd vPortland Urban District Council (1967) and London Borough of Merton v

    Stanley Hugh Leach (1985) lend support to global claims.

    3. Explain how the Hong Kong Court of Appeal took a hard line in respect of

    global claims and what did the editors of Building Law Reports see as the

    likely consequences.

    4. What is a Scott Schedule and how is it used

    5. What is a total cost claim

    6. How successful in the UK have applications to the court been for striking out

    claims submitted on a global basis.

    7. Where a claim has been submitted on a global basis what is the effect if a part

    of the loss has been due to the fault of the claimant.

    8. What recommendations have been made by the Society of Construction Law

    with regard to global claims.

    9. In view of the recent decisions of the courts in the UK are claims which are

    submitted on a global basis likely to succeed. If the answer is yes are there any

    reservations.

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    MODEL ANSWERS

    1. Claims to be legally binding should identify separately each item of claim

    together with its effect. Due to the difficulty contractors and subcontractorsoften experience in providing this type of detailed information they often

    produce a global or rolled up claim. This is one where no individual

    connection is made between each item of claim and its effect. Often the

    individual items of claim are identified but the loss is expressed as a

    composite whole.

    2. The case of J Crosby and Sons Ltd v Portland Urban District Council was an

    appeal against the decision of an arbitrator who awarded 31 weeks extension

    of time and associated costs to the contractor. Of this period 9 weeks related to

    matters which were intertwined resulting in difficulty being experienced in

    identifying the precise cause and effect of each of the matters which resultedin delay and extra cost. The arbitrator therefore made a single award of 9

    weeks against the list of items which had resulted in the delay. It was the view

    of the court that it was impracticable if not impossible to assess the additional

    expense caused by the delay and disorganisation due to any one of the matters

    involved and agreed with the arbitrators award. A similar situation occurred

    in the case of The London Borough of Merton v Stanley Hugh Leach where

    the court accepted a global claim on the basis that it was impractical to

    disentangle or disintegrate the part directly attributable to each head of claim

    and provided the contractor had served the appropriate notice required by the

    contract the Architect must ascertain the global loss attributable to the two

    causes.

    3. A hard line approach to global claims was taken in the Hong Kong case of

    Wharf Properties Ltd v Eric Cumine Associates. In this case a claim was made

    by an employer against an Architect in respect of a major development in

    Hong Kong. The employers case was that the Architect had failed to properly

    manage, control, co-ordinate, supervise and administer the work undertaken

    by the contractors and subcontractors as a result of which the project was

    delayed with substantial additional costs being incurred. Six periods of delay

    were involved but the statement of claim did not show how they were causedby the defendants breaches. The plaintiff argued that due to the complexity of

    the project, the interrelationship and very large number of delaying and

    disruptive factors and their inevitable knock-on effects it was impossible at the

    pleadings stage to identify and isolate individual delays in the manner the

    defendant required and that this would not be known until the trial. The Court

    of Appeal in Hong Kong agreed to strike out the claim on the basis that the

    pleadings as they stood were hopelessly embarrassing seven years after the

    action began and that unparticularised pleadings in such a form should not be

    allowed to stand. The editors of Building Law reports offered a view that as a

    result of the decision in this case those responsible for the preparation and

    presentation of claims would need to work harder with those with first handknowledge of the event so as to provide an adequate description. It will mean

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    keeping proper records to provide the necessary detail. No longer will it be

    possible to call in an outsider who will simply list all the possible causes of

    delay to avoid having to give details of the consequences of those events.

    4. A Scott Schedule is a means of setting out in tabular form pleadings whichcontain a great deal of complex detail. The relevant issues are set out and

    provide an opportunity for both the claimant and defendant to state its case in

    respect of each issue. For example it may be alleged that one of the causes of

    delay is the late issue of bending schedules in respect of the reinforced

    concrete columns. A Scott Schedule would provide an opportunity for both the

    claimant and defendant to state its case in respect this item. Producing the

    information in this form allows for quick and easy understanding of each of

    the parties case. In the case of Imperial Chemical Industries v Bovis

    Construction Ltd and Others (1992) a Scott Schedule was required to contain:

    The alleged complaints giving rise to each claim

    The defendant against whom each claim was made

    Which clause(s) in the contract had been breached

    Alleged consequences of each claim

    5. Global claims come in various forms. It is not uncommon for the contractor to

    claim the recovery of all the costs incurred in the project plus profit less the

    amount certified and paid on the basis that but for the matters included in the

    claim the contractor would have recovered all of them. This is often referred to

    as a total cost claim. A claim prepared in this manner was allowed in the caseof Berhards Rugby Landscapes Ltd v Stockley Park Consortium (1997) as it

    was held to be impractical to disentangle that part of the costs attributable to

    each head of claim.

    6. The decision in the Hong Kong case of Wharf Properties Ltd v Eric Cumine

    Associates is one of the few examples of a court agreeing to strike out a claim

    on the basis that it has been prepared on a global basis. Few if any reported

    cases heard in the UK courts have resulted in striking out applications been

    successful.

    7. In the case of John Doyle Construction Ltd v Laing Management (Scotland)

    Ltd (2004) an action was brought by the plaintiff seeking an extension of time

    of 22 weeks together with loss and expense. It was argued that the claim was

    based upon the premise that all the losses incurred we due to breaches on the

    part of Laing and if it could be shown that a part of those losses were not due

    to these breaches then the claim would fail. The judge was sympathetic to this

    view but felt that the whole matter should be treated with common sense and

    allowed the claim to stand. It may have been different if a significant amount

    of the claim could be shown to have been caused by Doyle. The judges view

    was that if a global claim is to succeed the contractor must eliminate from the

    claim all costs that are not the responsibility of the employer.

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    8. The recommendations of the Society of Construction Law with regard to

    global claims are as follows:

    1. The not uncommon practice of contractors making composite or globalClaims without substantiating cause and effect is discouraged by the

    Protocol and rarely accepted by the courts. This recommendation does

    not appear to be correct as in all the cases referred to in this module

    only in the Hong Kong decision in Wharf Properties Ltd v Eric Cumine

    Associates was a striking out action successful

    2. If the contractor has made and maintained accurate and complete

    records the contractor should be able to establish the casual link

    between the employers risk event and the resultant loss and expense

    suffered without the need to make a global claim.

    3. In what should only be rare cases where the financial consequences of

    the various causes of compensation are impossible to distinguish so thatan accurate apportionment of the compensation claimed cannot be

    made between the several causative events, then in this rare situation it

    is acceptable to quantify individually those items of the claim which

    can be dealt with in isolation and claim compensation for the remainder

    as a composite whole. It seems fanciful of the Protcol to suggest that

    this situation is rare when in reality it is commonplace.

    4. The contractor will nevertheless need to set out the details of the

    employers risk events relied upon and the compensation claimed with

    sufficient particularity so that the employer knows the case that is being

    made against him.

    9 The basic rule when submitting a claim for delay and/or additional cost

    is a need to link individually the causes of delay and extra cost with the effect.

    However the complexity of contemporary claims sometimes need to be dealt

    with by a global approach. However a careful balance needs to be made

    between the practical difficulties of claimants and the rights of the defendants

    to know the case they have to answer in adequate detail. A question which is

    often asked is whether a claim which does not properly link cause with effect

    will fail. It depends upon the circumstances. Good advice to claimants is to

    ensure that they eliminate from the claim any delay or cost which is not the

    fault of the defending party. In the final analysis a global claim is unlikely tofail merely because it has been prepared on a global basis, however the award

    is likely to be modest.

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