The Bureau successfully defended the interests of Ozon marketplace in a dispute over penalties for delayed construction of a warehouse

The Client’s interests were represented by attorney Konstantin Shorygin, Junior Partner of Belsky & Partners.

A marketplace company filed a lawsuit against its contractor for breaching the agreed deadlines for the construction and lease delivery of a warehouse complex.

The contractor claimed that the delay was caused by objective circumstances beyond its control. However, the Bureau’s lawyers, representing the Client, successfully demonstrated that these arguments were unfounded.

The case was complicated by the fact that the parties had entered into a preliminary lease agreement obligating the landlord to construct and hand over the property to the tenant within a specified timeframe.

The court of first instance dismissed the Client’s claims, but the appellate court overturned that decision and fully upheld the Client’s position.

In its ruling, the appellate court held that the provisions of contract law governing construction contracts were not applicable to this dispute. The court noted that neither the law nor the agreement required the Client to extend the handover deadlines, while the contractor was strictly obligated to complete construction and deliver the warehouse complex within the agreed period.

The Bureau’s legal team proved that there were no valid reasons to postpone the deadlines, as a result of which the appellate court awarded the Client a multimillion-ruble recovery.