Courts: work was suspended due to bad weather - the state customer has no grounds for unilateral refusal
The parties signed a contract for the repair of the highway. Due to bad weather, the contractor suspended work. The customer terminated the transaction unilaterally — there are shortcomings in the repair and it will not be completed on time. The information was not included in the RNP.
The customer did not accept and did not pay for the work. The contractor appealed to the court.
Three instances satisfied the claim:
the customer did not prepare the construction site in time. A significant part of the repairs took place in the winter. He was informed that the main work was completed, and the rest was suspended due to bad weather;
the low temperature and heavy precipitation were confirmed in a special institution. According to the SNIP and GOST, it is impossible to perform work in such conditions — the result may be negative. The supervisors also agreed with this;
the contractor promised to finish the repair after the weather improved. He did not perform the work in violation of quality, although the customer insisted;
the contractor was not informed about the shortcomings in the repair. The defective acts were drawn up without his representatives, when the work had not yet been completed;
the decision on unilateral refusal did not indicate the reasons for termination of the contract.
Note: in practice, there is an example when the court recognized the unilateral refusal of the customer as illegal, since he did not fulfill counter obligations, and the shortcomings of the work were not eliminated on time due to bad weather.
Document:Resolution of the AC of the Moscow District of 26.05.2022 in the case N A41-46789/2021