Contract Dispute Between an Environmental Technology Company in Xiamen and the Project Owner Regarding an Environmental Engineering Contract

Case Summary

Plaintiff Xiamen [Name] Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. entered into an "Environmental Engineering Construction Contract" with Defendant Fujian [Name] Chemical Enterprise, agreeing that Plaintiff would construct wastewater and waste gas treatment facilities at Defendant's production site. The total contract price was 320 million yuan, with the remaining balance of 96 million yuan payable upon successful acceptance by the environmental protection authorities. After completing construction, third-party testing confirmed that the treated wastewater and waste gas met national environmental standards. However, Defendant refused to cooperate with the acceptance process and withheld payment of the final balance of 96 million yuan, claiming the project failed to meet its expected treatment performance. Plaintiff filed a lawsuit requesting Defendant to pay the outstanding工程款 and liquidated damages.

Key Dispute

1.Does the environmental protection project in question comply with national environmental standards and contractual agreements?

2.Is the defendant's defense of refusing to cooperate with acceptance and rejecting payment for construction costs valid?

3.Does the liquidated damages claimed by the plaintiff comply with legal regulations?

Case Strategy

1.Fixed environmental engineering contract, environmental engineering design plan, construction records, test reports issued by third-party testing agencies, filing documents from environmental protection authorities, and communication records between both parties as core evidence.

2.Demonstrate that the pollutant discharge concentrations after treatment of the project in question fully comply with national mandatory environmental protection standards and meet the treatment requirements stipulated in the contract.

3.The defendant, in order to avoid paying the construction funds, unreasonably refused to cooperate with the environmental protection department's acceptance inspection. This malicious obstruction of the payment condition should be deemed as having been fulfilled.

4.Calculate the liquidated damages for the defendant's overdue payment in accordance with the contract agreement and applicable laws.

Processing Result

The court ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiff the remaining construction funds of 96 ten thousand yuan, plus liquidated damages for overdue payment calculated based on 96 ten thousand yuan at 1.5 times the Loan Prime Rate published by the National Interbank Funding Center from the due date until actual payment. The defendant shall bear all litigation and testing costs.

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