Construction law cases - Case Study Example

Case Study: Construction Law Cases Case Communication; Jones the client and Nussbaum, the contractor Any alteration must be in writing since extra costs are incurred. In the remodeling phase, the client orally requested for the work and later refused to pay the contractor after execution of work. A contract is a binding document that is in written form in the tender document. Any communication that changes the scope of work must be in writing and approved because both parties are bound to terms of communication.

Claims in the change of scope of work are only payable if communication was in writing. Since communication was verbal, there is no binding agreement. The contractor could have requested for Request For Information on the matter.Case 2: Chartered Institutions and Authorized ContractorsA consultant engineer entered into a contract with City of San Marcos. A written consent was required to any modification from the client to contractor. A request was orally done in modification of scope of work which is in contrast to the contractor.

The charter of the city allowed oral contracts to contractors possessing requisite authority. The agreement between the client and contractor in this case reveals that the contractor possessed requisite authority. Any modification in the scope of work was binding be in in writing or verbal. The consultant is therefore obliged to carry out the scope of work and claim for payment upon completion.Case 3: A Dam Project The contractor subcontracted part of the work. The contractor made oral request to the sub contractor who claimed for compensation.

Communication in execution of work must always be in writing. If the subcontractor executed work that was orally communicated by the contractor, the contractor is not obliged to any claim. This is because it was a non approved mode of communication according to the tender document. Secondly, the subcontractor cannot claim for any payment from the client because the contract is binding between the client and the general contractor.Case 4: Breach of ContractIn this case, the subcontractor claims a breach of contractor by the general contractor for not paying him upon completion of work.

The general contractor claimed that he had not received payments from the client for the work executed by the subcontractor. According to the “Paid if Paid” clause, the subcontractor does not have any link with the client and the contractor has no right to withholds payments to the subcontractor. This is exceptional for a case where the contractor indicated in the contract document that sub contractor will receive payment after payment has been made to the contractor by the client. However, the contractor should not more than what the client owns them.

Case 5: Scope of WorkThe client gave instruction to the contractor to cut and “remove” a tree. The term or condition of work was not understood by the contractor. After execution of work, the client refused to pay the contractor because he never took the tree from the client’s property. The contractor recorded a mechanic’s lien. The scope of work was clearly stated but the client never understood. Since the contract stated that the tree was to be removed and the contractor abided by that, the client is obliged to pay the contractor.

Before commencement of work, the client was to seek Request For Information (RFI’s).