Global Claims

Global claims have been a popular topic of discussion in the construction industry for some time. Industry commentators have charted the Courts' decisions over the years: some siding with the ‘employer's team’ and other siding with ‘contractor's team’. It is necessary for the contractor to establish each and every head of claim, by means of supporting documentation and other evidence. Often a contractor will attempt to form its claim on a global basis. This chapter presents a simple example of a global claim. It provides the 2012 case of Walter Lilly v Mackay . The 2012 case of Walter Lilly v Mackay considered many claims from the contractor, including a ‘global’ claim. In the context of the ‘practical impossibility’ referred to in Merton, Akenhead J described the circumstances in which the global claim was submitted. The judge drew ‘the relevant threads together’ from previous cases and set out principles for global claims.