A DUTY TO VERIFY DESIGN ASSUMPTIONS

Ove Arup & Partners International Ltd v Mirant Asia-Pacific Construction (Hong Kong) Ltd [2005] EWCA Civ 1585; [2005] All ER (D) 322 (Dec) 21 December 2005

In Ove Arup & Partners International Ltd v. Mirant Asia-Pacific Construction (Hong Kong) Ltd [2005] EWCA Civ 1585; [2005] All ER(D) 322 (Dec),21 December 2005, the Court of Appeal held that Judge Toulmin had been entitled to conclude that the defendant engineering consultants were in breach of the obligation in the design agreement to verify the design assumption. Two points of significance emerge from the case. The first is the reluctance of the Court of Appeal to disturb a finding of fact made by a specialist judge in a complicated technical case. The second is the clear statement to the effect that the defendants were under a duty to verify the assumptions which they initially made in relation to the land and its load bearing capacity.