ATLANTIC CIVIL PTY LTD v WATER ADMINISTRATION MINISTERIAL CORPORATION [1996] NSWCA 26

ATLANTIC CIVIL PTY LTD v WATER ADMINISTRATION MINISTERIAL CORPORATION

SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL

GLEESON CJ, MAHONEY P and BEAZLEY JA

4 June 1996, 4 June 1996

[1996] NSWCA 26

CONTRACT — CONSTRUCTION — no question of general principle involved.

In a dispute between a contractor and a public authority there was a dispute as to the interpretation of a clause in the contract - HELD - The interpretation of the primary judge was correct - No question of general principle involved.

(After judgment on the first issue in the appeal, the case was settled).

Gleeson CJ This is an appeal from a decision of Giles J in a case that was placed in the Court's Construction List back in 1991.

The appellant entered into a contract with the respondent to construct a flood protection levee at Denman on the Hunter River. The contract was in part a lump sum contract and in part a schedule of rates contract. The part with which we are presently concerned involved a schedule of rates.

Following the completion of the construction of the levee the appellant made a number of claims against the respondent and the claims that are relevant to the present appeal and cross-appeal fall broadly into two categories. The first category of claims relates to a contention on the part of the appellant that it was entitled to additional payment in respect of stripping operations of a kind that will be described further in these reasons for judgment. The second category of claims related to a contention on the part of the appellant that it had encountered certain latent conditions in respect of which it was entitled to additional payments under the contract. With one qualification, the appellant's contentions in respect of the second category of claims were accepted by the referee and by Giles J. The qualification can be put to one side for the moment. It forms a part of the appeal on which we have not yet heard argument.