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Ruling of the Court of Appeal of Lithuania of 24 November 2022

2022-11-24

In its Ruling of 24 November 2022 in the civil case No e2A-802-910/2022, the Court of Appeal of Lithuania upheld the judgement of the Vilnius Regional Court of 8 April 2022 in the civil case No e2-1136-653/2022, by which the public drinking water supplier and wastewater manager (client) was awarded slightly more than 267 thousand euros in compensation from the contractor for missing the deadline for the completion of works.

The contractor based his disagreement with the claim on the fact that the client actually started using the result of the works performed by the contractor according to the intended purpose, therefore, the works should have been deemed accepted in accordance with paragraph 10.2 of the Terms and Conditions of the Design and Construction and Equipment Contract for Construction and Engineering Works, Electrical and Mechanical Equipment Designed by the Contractor (FIDIC “Yellow” Book).

The continuous sewage treatment and sludge treatment by the client (applicant) in the sludge treatment facilities built by the contractor (respondent) was not recognised by the courts as an acceptance of parts of the Works according to paragraph 10.2 of the FIDIC “Yellow” Book, arguing, among other things, that the terms and conditions of the contract show that the process of sewage treatment and sludge treatment is continuously carried out by the client after the contractor switched them over to the built and reconstructed sludge treatment facilities; in addition, the test run of a part of the works shall not be considered to be the use of the result of the respondent’s works (its part) by the applicant.

The public drinking water supplier and wastewater manager was represented in the case by Beata Vilienė and Linas Vilys from the Law Firm AVIP.