NON-PAYMENT BY EMPLOYER HELD TO BE A REPUDIATORY BREACH ENTITLING CONTRACTOR TO SUSPEND WORK

C. J. Elvin Building Services Ltd v Noble [2003] EWHC 837 (TCC)

In C. J. Elvin Building Services Ltd v Noble [2003] EWHC 837 (TCC) Mr Robert Akenhead QC, sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, held that the defendant employers had repudiated a contract for construction works by refusing to pay the claimant builders for the work done, with the consequence that the claimants were entitled to suspend further performance of the work. The decision is notable for two reasons. First, the conclusion that non-payment by an employer can amount to a repudiatory breach of contract. The second is the conclusion that the claimants were entitled to suspend the works. This is a more controversial conclusion given that English contract law does not generally recognise the existence of a right to suspend performance of a contract.