A Bahamian contractor has been awarded $150,000 after the Supreme Court ruled that an expatriate homeowner breached the agreement for him to rebuild her Dorian-devastated Hope Town house.

Justice Constance Delancy, in an April 10, 2025, verdict found in favour of James Baillou, trading as Baillou Construction II, over the $400,000 contract to rebuild Cliona Bacon’s Hope Town property, ‘By The Steps’. Despite finding both sides to be “generally truthful” with the evidence they gave, the judge said she “preferred” that given by the contractor and awarded him the unpaid $150,000 balance plus interest.

However, Justice Delancy rejected Mr Baillou’s claim for defamation over allegations that Ms Bacon “intentionally and falsely accused” himself and his workers “of dishonesty in misappropriating building materials” purchased for use in reconstructing her home and using them on other work sites.

Setting out the dispute’s origins, the judge noted that both parties signed a document, entitled ‘Estimated costs to make repairs to Cliona Bacon’s house’ on April 7, 2021. The estimated price, including both materials and labour, was $400,000 and divided into four stage payments of various sums between $50,000 to $150,000. Some $300,000 was to cover labour costs, with the balance going on materials.

No completion date was specified, and Ms Bacon terminated their agreement just over five months’ later on September 18, 2021, because “she was dissatisfied with the quality of the claimant’s [Mr Baillou’s] workmanship and the pace of construction”. At that time, the contractor had received the first two stage payments worth $250,000 to leave $150,000 outstanding.

This prompted Mr Baillou to launch a breach of contract claim in the Supreme Court on November 29, 2021. He alleged that Ms Bacon had “obstructed” him fulfilling the contract by “constantly unreasonably complaining of the workmanship and skill of various workers including the plumber”. She had also purportedly demanded that some workers be fired, and that others perform work outside the scope of their duties.

Mr Baillou also claimed Ms Bacon had denied him access to the property, and the chance to complete all required work, and “falsely accused the plaintiff of using her materials on another job and in stealing the same, thereby causing damage to his character and lowering him in the eyes of his workers”.

Setting out his claim for defamation and slander, the contractor argued that Ms Bacon’s claims were “false and malicious”, causing him to “suffer mental distress, damage and loss in his trade, profession and calling”.

“Abaco is a small society, especially with the reduction in population after Hurricane Dorian. News, whether good or bad, travels fast,” Mr Baillou asserted in his claim. “Given the construction boom existing in Abaco, the likely cost of damage to the plaintiff as a building contractor is huge.

“The reckless and false defamatory statements by the defendant are likely to cause the plaintiff to suffer millions of dollars in lost job opportunities. The plaintiff is a Bahamian citizen who lives and works in Abaco. He is dependent upon his good character at home.”

Ms Bacon, though, in her defence and counter-claim denied any breach of contract and instead alleged that the agreement was breached by Mr Baillou “by failing to show up on site to perform any work at all for a period of nine weeks following his being paid the second instalment of $100,000”.

“Following a nine-week unauthorised hiatus when the plaintiff failed to have any workmen whatsoever on site despite repeated promises and assurances, which the plaintiff made and failed to keep, it became clear that the workers which did eventually show up, and the sub-contractors engaged by the plaintiff were not performing the works to Code, or according to the plans laid out by the architect/engineer,” she countered.

“After nine weeks of the plaintiff’s failure to place a team on site, the plaintiff dispatched two workers (not part of the original crew) to begin work. Their level of skill and work ethic was sub-standard and the errors in their work were repeatedly brought to the attention of the plaintiff, who would always respond that he would ‘fix it’.

“There were times when they did not show up at all, or stated that they had no materials to work with despite the defendant having funded $250,000 to the plaintiff by this point. The plaintiff eventually admitted that his workers were not performing properly and agreed to find another building team, and did replace a number of workers.”

Ms Bacon claimed she would also visit the construction site to inspect the progress of works and find “workers lounging about or unable to work due to lack of materials which she had already paid for, or waiting for fuel for a generator - repeatedly - such that the defendant had to engage the workers and become her own contractor to some degree”.

She added that she resorted to another contractor to complete the job, and further alleged: “The defendant’s complaint was that the plaintiff received the second installment of $100,000 and immediately thereafter went to work on another site Hope Town and did not return to the defendant’s site for a period of nine consecutive weeks, during which time the plaintiff lied repeatedly to the defendant about when they would begin again on her site.

“The plaintiff has also flatly refused and/or failed to provide the defendant with any accounting at all as to the application of her money, despite having indicated and agreed through the defendant’s agent that he would provide an up-to-date accounting and monthly statements moving forward.”

And Ms Bacon, in rejecting the defamation claims against her, also counter-claimed against Mr Baillou and his company for negligence and breach of duty of care. However, the Bahamian contractor returned fire by alleging that no architectural or engineering plan, which complied with Bahamian building laws and regulations, was ever produced for the new home.

Instead, Mr Baillou added that he was provided with “sketches” by an American engineer who was not licensed to practice in The Bahamas. At trial, he indicated that the work was estimated to take five to six months, but he was never provided with a set of approved plans or a building permit.

“He experienced delays in executing the works on the site as a result of COVID-19 infections among the construction crew, as he and his workers had to quarantine as per the Government’s emergency orders. Further the pandemic also adversely affected the chain of supply of materials required for the job,” Justice Delancy said of his evidence. Mr Baillou also switched construction crews following Ms Bacon’s complaints.

However, Ms Bacon “conceded that while she got an approved set of plans from the local Town Planning Committee she did not provide that document to the claimant. She also agreed that she relied on a report of a Mr Cox, who is not a qualified or approved ‘inspector’, and the works were not inspected by a government inspector”.

Justice Delancy, in her decision, noted that Ms Bacon never demanded that Mr Baillou complete the works by a certain date. And she accepted that the COVID-related delays to the project were not unreasonable.

“It is not disputed that the claimant began the works without an approved set of plans. The court accepts the claimant’s evidence that the defendant never provided him or his sub-contractors with fully stamped and approved plans for the renovations to her home,” she added.

“The defendant conceded under cross-examination that she received ‘approved drawings’ from the Local Town Planning Board after the works began but never shared them with the claimant.... The court having heard the witnesses and observed them as they gave their evidence finds that they were all generally truthful in the evidence they gave.

“I nonetheless preferred the evidence of the claimant and his witnesses. The claimant asserts that it has been paid $250,000 to date, but that $150,000 remains owing.” Justice Delancy, though, dismissed Mr Baillou’s defamation claim as “without merit” and noted that he had failed to prove any loss.