Concurrent Delays in Construction: International Legal Perspective

Abstract

The term “concurrent delays” describes the situation when more than one delay occurs simultaneously, either of which would alone delay the overall project. The responsibility of concurrent delays is usually attributable to opposing parties to the contract, such as owner and contractor. This often leads to disputes concerning the extent to which each of the parties is responsible for project delay. Lack of agreement on the approach to properly apportion the damages because of concurrent delays exists throughout the various legal systems worldwide. Most of the time, judgments with respect to apportionment because of concurrent delays by courts are based upon precedents and case law owing to lack of agreed to legal practice. Realizing such need, this study overviews and compares various approaches adopted by courts with respect to ruling on concurrent delay claims and apportionment under different legal system legal systems including the United States (U.S.), Canada, United Kingdom (U.K.), and Australia. This study concludes that in general the U.S. approach in dealing with concurrent delay claims is far more mature and relatively more consistent compared with the other studied legal systems.