The
court’s decision underscores a significant risk of fighting on two fronts:
adopting inconsistent positions. The Contractor successfully leveraged the
Owner’s testimony from a separate lawsuit against another company. In that
testimony, the Owner attributed all project delays to the company’s continuous
design changes. The court determined that this testimony demonstrated material
issues regarding design completion that led to substantial project delays.
During the dispute between the Contractor and the Owner, the Contractor
asserted that the Owner’s ongoing design changes caused it to miss the
substantial completion deadline, while the Owner blamed the Contractor's
subcontractors. Ultimately, the Owner withheld significant payments, prompting
the Contractor to exercise its right to suspend work, leading to the Owner
terminating the contract for default. The court awarded $5 million in damages
in favor of the Contractor.
