Contract, Project Abandonment: Separate Legal Concepts

Abandonment is a well-known concept on construction projects in California. It generally arises in different situations. One example is when the project's design is so deficient that the contractor performs a massive amount of change orders and extra work. This may qualify as contract abandonment, resulting in the contractor or subcontractor recovering damages against the owner or prime contractor on a quantum meruit theory (with the exception set forth below).

Another example is when a contractor wrongfully ceases working and leaves the project. This is project abandonment.

Several judicial decisions have established the principle of contract abandonment, giving rise to its use in construction litigation. In C. Norman Peterson Co. v. Container Corp. of America (1985) 172 Cal.App.3d 628, the court held that when owner imposed changes (or prime contractor imposed changes vis-à-vis a subcontractor)