Cases - John Mowlem & Co PLC v Eagle Star Insurance Co Ltd & Others (No. 2)

Record details

Name

John Mowlem & Co PLC v Eagle Star Insurance Co Ltd & Others (No. 2)

Date

(1995)

Citation

62 BLR 126

Keywords

Construction contracts - certification - action for wrongful termination of contract -duties and role of certifier - cause of action - whether certifier exercised proper or independent judgment in deciding whether to issue certificate - whether certifier deliberately misapplied contract provisions to deprive employer's agent of commission

Summary

The claimants were management contractors for a developer in relation to a site in London. The fourth defendant, PRP, was the architect. In arbitration proceedings, the claimants had succeeded in recovering substantial damages for wrongful termination of the contract against the developer; these sums were not paid. The claimants then commenced litigation against the defendants to recover, in tort, the amount claimed in the arbitration. One of the claims against PRP was that they failed to act independently of the developer and did not exercise any proper or independent judgment in deciding whether to issue the certificates and deliberately misapplied the provisions of the contract with the intention of depriving the claimant of the sums to which they were contractually entitled. In these circumstances it was claimed that PRP knowingly and wrongfully interfered with performance of the management contract and procured or facilitated a breach of the management contract by the developer. The application to have these claims struck out as disclosing no reasonable cause of action was dismissed.