Peacock Construction Co v Modern Air Conditioning
Peacock Construction Co. v. Modern Air Conditioning (353 So. 2d 840, Fla. 1977) is the leading US authority establishing the ‘majority view’ on conditional-payment clauses. The Florida Supreme Court held that an ambiguous final-payment provision is an absolute promise to pay — a pay-when-paid timing provision — not a condition precedent, reasoning that small subcontractors do not ordinarily assume the risk of the owner’s failure to pay. To shift that risk onto a subcontractor a contract must unambiguously say so, and the burden of clear expression rests on the general contractor.
Connections
- Pay-When-Paid Clauses — case defines the US default interpretation, source: 1977