Controversy regarding searches without a warrant
June 27, 2020UK LAW Can miscarriages of justice be prevented?
June 27, 2020You are a trainee at Sparrow and Finch LLP and your supervising partner, Robin Sparrow, has asked you do to do some work on this file, in which the firm is instructed by Lewis & Son Ltd. Lewis & Son Ltd are a small local building firm. They were contracted to build an extension to the business premises of Smith & Co Ltd, a local estate agents. Smith & Co Ltd wanted to extend their premises in order to expand their business to include a lettings department, as at that point they only undertook sale transactions. In discussion with Lewis & Son Ltd prior to the contract being formed, Smith & Co Ltd told Lewis & Son Ltd that it was important that the extension was completed by the end of June so that they could get the letting side of their business ready by 1st July. Smith & Co Ltd. agreed to pay a higher price because of this. There was no mention of stage payments in the contract and the contract price payable for the extension was £20,000. By 10th May, Lewis & Son Ltd had completed roughly three-quarters of the extension and had invested a lot of work and money into the project, but they declared themselves, in a phone call to Smith & Co Ltd, unable to complete the project due to financial difficulties. Lewis & Son Ltd had not received any payments for the work they had been able to carry out. The extension lighting and heating had not been fitted and the walls needed to be plastered and painted, all of which were part of Lewis & Son Ltd.’s contract. Smith & Co Ltd employed another builder to finish the extension at a cost of £3,000, but the extension was not finished until 18th July and they claim to have lost out on some business profit as a result of having to delay the opening of their lettings department by three weeks.