James Elliott Construction Ltd v Irish Asphalt Ltd
Citation: IEHC 269
Nature of case:
James Elliott Construction had been the Contractor on the construction of the Ballymun Central Youth Facility. Over several years after practical completion, significant cracks appeared in the interior floor walls, and the building became unusable. James Elliott Construction agreed to remediate the building at a cost of around €1.55 million. In the instant case, James Elliott Construction alleged that the defects had been caused by an abundance of pyrite in underfloor crushed stone infills purchased from Irish Asphalt, which had expanded so as to raise the level of the floor, and claimed damages for breach of contract. Irish Asphalt argued that this was not proven on the balance of probabilities, suggesting instead that defective design on the part of the contract engineers had led to subsidence of the foundations, which Irish Asphalt alleged was the true cause of the damage.
