CE4068: Dave is considering building a new warehouse located on the low-lying ground outside Limerick: Procurement & Contracting II Assignment, UOL, Ireland

Question 1

Dave is considering building a new warehouse located on the low-lying ground outside Limerick. To assess the suitability of the site for development, Dave enlists the services of Joe Bloggs Surveyors Ltd. (“Joe”) who are a chartered, registered, and insured land surveying company.

Joe accepts the task and instructs a new employee he has just hired to survey the site. Joe fails to review the survey and report before providing it to Dave for consideration. The report concludes that the site is suitable for development. Within the report, the phrase “without responsibility on the part of this surveying company” is printed.

Dave is impressed with the survey which dispels his concern about the suitability of the site and proceeds to develop the site based on this report.

As the development nears completion, with a week to opening, the site is flooded after a nearby river bursts its banks from heavy rainfall. The site and warehouse are flooded, with extensive damage done to the contents and the largely completed building.

Dave is distraught and does not understand how the accident occurred. To investigate further, Dave gets another surveyor to investigate. As part of their investigations, they review the report and accompanying paperwork provided by Joe and are alarmed to see that the adjacent river was never surveyed nor considered in the report.

Dave’s insurance fails to compensate him for his loss as they consider that the survey and report are inadequate and failed to identify what should have been an evident issue.

Question 2

James owns a hardware store in Small Town in which Dean is hired to help him deliver supplies. James instructs Dean on where and when he must be each day while providing him with a weekly payment and a company van. James employs Dean as he is a good friend, but James knows that he has a tendency to speed when driving. However, because he is a friend, he does not discuss the matter with James, but simply asks him to be careful
when driving.

Dean notices one day that the van he is driving has a brake fault and informs James. However, James is very busy and tells Dean to keep driving and he will sort it out later. Two weeks pass and Dean has repeatedly told James about the issue of poor brakes, but again James tells him that he will get them fixed next week.

The following Friday evening, Dean, anxious to finish for the weekend, is returning to the store and speeds up to the door. Jane, a customer leaving the store is returning to her car, but Dean fails to see her. He steps on the brakes but hits Jane and breaks her leg. In doing so, Dean hurts his neck in the accident and is out of work for two weeks.

Question 3

Adjudication is often described as “quick but rough justice”; however, the Adjudicator has a duty to act impartially and to consider all relevant information submitted to him by the parties