A judge has issued a stinging rebuke to two companies involved in the construction of Wembley Stadium for wasting more than £20 million on a long-running legal fight that served “no useful purpose”.

Mr Justice Jackson, sitting in the High Court in London, today brought to an end a four-year dispute between Multiplex, the principal contractor on the national football stadium, and Cleveland Bridge, which provided the steelwork including Wembley’s distinctive arch.

In an unusually forceful judgment, the judge said that the case, which amassed 550 ring-binders of evidence resulting in a bill of almost £1 million for photocopying, had not achieved a victory for either side.

“The result of this litigation is such that, when costs are taken into account, neither party has gained any financial benefit,” Mr Justice Jackson said. “Instead large sums of costs and a large amount of management time have been expended on both sides to no useful purpose.”

The judge ordered Cleveland Bridge to pay £6.1 million to Multiplex — renamed Brookfield Construction after it was acquired by a Canadian asset manager earlier this year — for overpayment, damages for breach of contract and interest. However, that was far less than the £25 million Multiplex claimed it lost after Cleveland Bridge walked away from the project in August 2004.

Mr Justice Jackson said that the manner in which both companies approached the litigation was “surprising to say the least” and that they had ignored repeated advice during preliminary hearings to reach a settlement.

“Over the last two years both parties have brushed aside repeated judicial observations on the wisdom of settling this particular litigation,” Mr Justice Jackson said. “Each party has thrown away golden opportunities to settle this litigation upon favourable terms.”

The judge said that Multiplex and Cleveland Bridge had failed to use mechanisms put in place by the courts to resolve commercial disputes swiftly and cost-effectively, resulting in costs of more than £14 million since proceedings began in June 2006 in addition to £8 million in pre-trial costs.

Mr Justice Jackson added: “I wish to place firmly on record that what has happened in this case is in no way typical of litigation in the Technology and Construction Court.”

Cleveland Bridge was sub-contracted to supply steel for the 90,000-seat stadium in September 2002, but the relationship with Multiplex quickly began to fray. Both sides blamed each other for lengthy delays. Legal action began in August 2004 with both companies seeking damages.

A spokesman for Brookfield Asset Management Group, which acquired Multiplex in January, said: “The settlement, as it stands, is within our expected range of outcomes and we are pleased that the judgment in our favour does at least vindicate our claim. However, we are currently reflecting on the judgment in detail and considering our options.”

A spokeswoman for Cleveland Bridge said that it had been vindicated except on certain technical legal points and that it had applied to the court to appeal those.

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