Owner v. Contractor: Breach of Contract for Delayed Construction

A dispute arose concerning a contractor's failure to complete work on a building, leading the property owner to engage another contractor to finish the project and sue the original contractor for the resulting increased costs and damages, which the lower court had rejected on grounds that the contract terms were unclear regarding the completion date and penalties. The high court quashed the lower court's decision, ruling that even if the completion date was ambiguous, the owner was entitled to compensation for the delay and associated costs once the owner formally put the contractor on notice (mise en demeure) to execute the work, and the contractor failed to do so within a reasonable time, constituting a fundamental breach justifying termination and damages.