Resolving a dispute concerning the interpretation of utilities reinstatement contract

We were instructed in relation to a significant dispute arising from a utilities reinstatement framework agreement covering a large region of England. The dispute related to the basis of measurement and valuation of approximately 40,000 sets of highways reinstatement woks.

The dispute concerned the interpretation of the contract and questions regarding implied terms, given ambiguity in the obligations between the utilities company and our client and where contractual risk lay as to whether excavated material could or should be dealt with in such a way that affected its suitability for re-use.

By careful conduct of the pre action protocol process and early involvement of suitable experts, we steered this multi-million pound dispute to an early mediation, having significantly narrowed the key factual and expert issues, resulting in settlement at mediation on favourable terms for our client