Intentional Breach Might Not Submarine Massachusetts' Construction Contracts
Commonwealth's high court rules on delayed Western Mass. broadband project
Construction contracts might not be undercut by an intentional contract breach, according to Massachusetts’ highest court.
The Commonwealth’s Supreme Judicial Court ruled on June 13 that G4S Technology LLC can attempt to recover up to $14 million in costs from Massachusetts, despite the fact that the Omaha, Neb.-based firm knowingly paid subcontractors late and lied about it to the public agency that managed a 1,200-mile Western Mass. fiber-optic network project that blew its $90-million budget and two-year schedule by more than a year, according to court documents.
A lower court previously found that G4S breached its $45.5-million design-build contract for the project that was finally completed in January, 2015.
The lower court ruling limited G4S' chances to recover the additional costs the firm claims it accrued because the agency didn’t finish preliminary work on time.
But now that the case was sent back to the lower court, G4S can resume its efforts to reclaim those costs.
