George McDonald succeeds in the Court of Appeal in a construction dispute concerning one of the largest PFI contracts in the U.K. George (led by Anneliese Day QC of Fountain Court) appeared for the successful local authority appellant, persuading the Court of Appeal that the joint venture contractor’s interpretation of the £2.6 billion contract was “bizarre”. The Court of Appeal criticised the contractor for leaping on “oddities” and “infelicities” in the massively lengthy contract to maximise its profit or reduce its workload. The Court commented that in such complex relational contracts the parties had to act reasonably to further the “long-term purpose” of the contract. The appeal succeeded on all issues, including that various milestone certificates should be set aside for manifest error. The judgment can be found at Amey Birmingham Highways Ltd v Birmingham City Council [2018] EWCA Civ 264.
