NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LTD v ABC ELECTRIFICATION LTD

[2019] EWHC 1769 (TCC), Technology and Construction Court, Miss Joanna Smith QC sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, 8 July 2019

Contract – Interpretation of contract – meaning of "default"

The claimant sought a declaration as to the meaning of the words "any cost due to negligence or default on the part of the Contractor in his compliance with any of his obligations under the Contract" in a clause defining the costs which the defendant was not entitled to claim from the claimant. For the claimant it was submitted that the word "default" should be given its plain and ordinary meaning and so include any failure by the defendant to comply with its obligations under the contract. The defendant's case was that "default" should be confined to "a wilful and deliberate" failure to comply with its obligations under the contract.