This case concerned refurbishment works carried out to the defendant's restaurant in 1903. The contract, agreed in early 1903, provided for a bonus payment of £360 if the works were completed within nine weeks. The progress of the works was held up by a party wall dispute with the adjoining property, with the result that possession was not granted until May 1903, and the defendants refused to pay the bonus. The Court of Appeal held that the party wall dispute constituted an act of prevention and that the bonus payment was recoverable.
