Legal action over the late-running Wembley stadium job will run until at least the next decade, an expert claimed this week

A leading legal consultant said he thought it would take five years for all the disputes related to Wembley Stadium to be dragged through the courts.

"They will still be fighting in five years because the amount of money at stake means it will be worth hanging in there," he said. He added the disputes would be "broken into chunks" as was the case with most large claims.

Reports in April claimed contractor Multiplex was preparing to take action against the client, Wembley National Stadium, claiming £150m due to 560 alleged design changes. There is speculation that there will be a claim against civil and structural design consultant Mott Stadium Consortium. A statement from consortium member Mott MacDonald to QS News in March said it was not being sued by Multiplex.

The prediction of further action came as the four-week court case between Multiplex and steel contractor Cleveland Bridge, which has charted the collapse of the relationship that led to the departure of Cleveland from the site in August 2004, came to a close last week. Judge Justice Jackson is expected to give his verdict on the case early next week. Multiplex is expecting to substantially complete the £450m scheme this month.

Recent dramatic court cases

John Laing vs Great Eastern Hotel 2005

The first major court case to deal with a construction management contract ended in ignominy for Laing which lost £10m. The judge found the construction manager had “encouraged their client to throw good money after bad” and that the firm deliberately submitted “incorrect delays and causes of delays”.

Harmon vs Houses of Commons 1999

A landmark case that found that the Commons adopted a buy British policy in selecting an Alvis/Seele bid for the cladding package on the £250m Portcullis House building. Rival bidder Harmon tendered £2.4m less than the Alvis team and successfully argued it had been treated unfairly. The case raised serious questions over best value procurement, where clients consider quality rather than quantity.

Davy Offshore vs Emerald Field Contracting 1991
Engineering firm Davy lost a packet on converting an oil rig for use in the Emerald Field in the North Sea. The firm had signed a fixed-price contract which made it both designer and builder of the scheme. So its argument that it could claim on design changes failed to cut the mustard with the judge in its case against the client and the firm lost the £50m case. Davy was subsequently bought by Trafalgar House.

Source

QS News