AboutPeter M. Elliott Expertise First response to queries regarding extensions of time, variations orders, site instructions and payment using FIDIC and other forms of Conditions of Contract, based on English Law, and derivatives only.
Experience Value . . .
It's unwise to pay too much, but it's unwise to pay too little. When you pay too much you lose a little money, that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do.
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot. It can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it's well to add something for the risk you run.
And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.
. . . John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)
"We are too poor to buy something cheap"
.Romanian Proverb 2002
A lean compromise is better than a fat lawsuit.
George Herbert (English poet 1593-1633)
I said it in Hebrew, I said it in Dutch,
I said it in German and Greek:
But I wholly forgot (and it vexes me much)
That English is what you speak!" Hunting of the Snark - Lewis Caroll
Match your presentation to the reader!
The joy of food lasts but an hour, of sleep but a day, of a woman, but a month, but the joy of a building lasts a lifetime. Syrian proverb.
Comments and observations leading to improvements in the translation of FIDIC Red & Yellow books into Romanian prior to approval by FIDIC (reference 'Preface to the Romanian edition')
Question Dear Sir;
I am researching case law on construction contracts. I need cases that state that when a contract is signed even though there has been no work done under it and then a second contract for the same construction is signed, the first contract is void? Is there any case law that reflects this situation?
Answer Hi Pat
I know of no such case law, and I do not see the point of such a case. If the first contract was terminated, then it would have been terminated and the parties compensated in accordance with the Conditions of Contract. The only awkward situation would be under FIDIC 1999 where the Employer cannot cancel a contract in order to award it to another contractor. If the work was awarded to another contractor without terminating the first contract, then the parties could seek compensation in accordance with the original contract. In either case, the matter is one of termination and the consequential compensation.
