Cases - Architectural Installation Services v James Gibbons Windows

Record details

Name

Architectural Installation Services v James Gibbons Windows

Date

(1989)

Citation

46 BLR 91

Keywords

Construction claims

Summary

The defendants gave by letter to the claimants notice that they required the claimants to comply with a particular condition of the contract and work the full working day required by that condition. A 'follow-up' to that letter was said to be a purported notice of termination issued some 11 months later, referring to the withdrawal of labour from the site.

The first letter was considered to be a valid 'first' notice despite the fact that it did not refer to the termination machinery itself or to the consequences of non-compliance. However, it was held that where a contract provides for termination of the contract by a warning notice followed by a termination notice, and 2 notices have been served, a party can only rely on that provision if an ordinary commercial businessman can see that there is a sensible connection between the 2 notices both in content and in time.

In this case, there was no sensible connection in terms of either content or time.