High Court: Technology and Construction Court judgments, 2004

An adjudicator’s award must be enforced in accordance with what the adjudicator decided. An employer may set off liquidated damages where the adjudicator’s…

Insurance conditions must be construed commercially and in the context of the insured premises. A cleaning obligation does not require impossible or…

A liquidated damages clause linked to sectional completion is void for uncertainty where the contract does not define the contents of each section or provide a…

A contractual cause of action generally accrues when the claimant first has the right to sue. Contractual notice, assessment or invoicing procedures do not…

Expert evidence supporting a substantial construction claim must provide a sufficiently particularised and intelligible basis for the figures advanced. Where…

A repairing covenant requiring premises to be delivered up in good and substantial repair does not require perfect or pristine condition. The relevant standard…

A cost-plus construction contract may arise from correspondence, drawings, site discussions and conduct even though no fixed price, programme or completion…

Permission to adduce further evidence late in a trial may be granted where fairness requires the claimant to answer a case that emerged during…

A costs-capping order should normally be prospective and sought at an early stage, so that the parties can plan the litigation with knowledge of the…

Under art 23 of the Council Regulation (EC) No. 44/2001, a clause selecting a particular court in a Member State may confer exclusive jurisdiction over…

Where a contribution is awarded, an interest rate substantially above base rate requires supporting commercial evidence. In the absence of such evidence, a…

On an appeal under Arbitration Act 1996, an arbitrator’s costs decision may raise a question of law where the arbitrator fails to identify the dispute by…

Partial disclosure of privileged material may be required where a party deploys part of a document and fairness requires the opposing party to see the material…

A contractual payment becomes enforceable according to the agreed payment regime, including any contractual period allowed for payment. A contractor cannot…

Under CPR 6.4(2), service on a solicitor is valid where the solicitor is authorised to accept service and has notified the serving party in writing of that…

In a construction contract, the ordinary measure of damages for defective work is the reasonable cost of reinstatement. It is unavailable where that measure is…

Late amendments to pleadings may be permitted where any prejudice can be remedied by costs. An amendment should nevertheless be refused if it is irrelevant to…

A letter of intent which anticipates execution of a standard building contract does not incorporate that contract merely because it identifies the proposed…

An adjudicator may determine a later extension-of-time dispute even where an earlier adjudication concerned related delay events, provided the later…

Acknowledgment under section 29(5)(a) of the Limitation Act 1980 does not revive a claim for unliquidated damages in tort. A liquidated pecuniary claim is a…

For ostensible authority to arise, the principal must make, or permit, a representation that the agent has authority to bind it. An agent’s own conduct cannot…

Permission to amend pleadings may be granted despite prolixity or imperfect particularity where the claimant cannot substantially simplify the case and refusal…

For limitation purposes, a proposed amendment raises a new cause of action where it introduces a distinct factual situation entitling the claimant to a remedy.…

A dispute is suitable for adjudication by reference to whether the adjudicator can reach a fair and impartial decision within the statutory or agreed…

Contract formation is determined objectively. A party’s private belief, or a pleading assertion about the contracting party, carries little weight unless…

A dispute does not arise merely because a claim is notified. It arises when, viewed objectively, the claim is not admitted. The circumstances may include…

A series of letters of intent may create successive “if” contracts. Where the final letter governs the parties’ relationship, its express financial limit…

In contracts for the sale of goods, an agreed specification may form an express contractual term. A general disclaimer does not permit delivery of goods…

When exercising the costs discretion under CPR Part 44.3, the court should consider the identity of the successful party, success on individual issues…

Terms are implied into a construction-related lease only where necessary to give the contract business efficacy or because they went without saying. A separate…

A contract is not concluded merely because the parties have agreed substantial commercial terms. The court must consider the correspondence and conduct…

An arbitration notice does not lapse merely because the party serving it delays applying for the appointment of an arbitrator. A term requiring appointment or…

In negligence, nuisance and statutory breach claims arising from the same facts, causation ordinarily requires a single approach where the statutory duty does…

Where negotiations are expressed to be subject to contract, that qualification ordinarily continues unless removed by express agreement or necessary…

Contractual valuation provisions must be applied by reference to the agreed contractual mechanism. Additional or substituted work is valued by analogy with…

Litigation privilege attaches to a document prepared by a third party only where litigation is reasonably in prospect and the dominant purpose of its…

A court will give effect to clear express contractual terms, even where a different arrangement might appear commercially preferable. A term may be implied…

A carefully negotiated written agreement may be treated as the complete record of the parties’ contract, preventing reliance on an inconsistent collateral…

Under CPR Part 19.5, a party may be added or substituted after limitation has expired where the limitation period was current when proceedings began and the…

A professional designer’s contractual duty to exercise reasonable care and skill in designing a structure includes verifying provisional design assumptions on…

A performance contract must be construed as a whole, giving effect to its language and commercial purpose. Under contractual “absolute guarantees”, recovery of…

Under CPR Part 6.5(6), a proprietor’s “last known place of business” means the last place of business known to the claimant, rather than the last objectively…

For the purposes of statutory adjudication, a construction agreement may be in writing even though it contains implied terms. Written evidence of acceptance…

Under section 108(1)(b) of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, a construction contract must enable referral of a dispute within seven…

Where negotiations and correspondence do not establish a concluded construction contract, the parties’ rights are assessed on a quantum meruit basis. The…

An adjudicator’s decision is binding only until the underlying dispute is finally determined. A party may obtain that determination before enforcement, and…

Inspection of disclosed documents is governed by the disclosure order as well as the Civil Procedure Rules. Where relevant material is confidential, relevance…

Repairing and decorating covenants require substantial compliance, judged by the age, character and locality of the premises and the needs of a reasonably…

An adjudicator must decide the dispute, and the legal and factual basis of that dispute, which the referring party has submitted. The adjudicator may take the…

Where parties have concluded a contract containing an agreement in principle to settle a matter later, failure to agree the detailed machinery does not…

A series of interim orders for design, procurement and site works does not become a contract for the whole project merely because the parties expect to execute…

A contractual performance obligation must be construed by reference to the language used and the relevant background. A recipe identifying ingredients and…

In a claim for damage caused by neighbouring excavation and construction works, the claimant must establish that the works were the most likely cause of the…

For the purposes of section 105(2)(c) of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, the relevant site is assessed as a whole. Whether its…

An adjudicator’s jurisdiction depends on the dispute which the parties agreed to refer and the basis on which it was referred. The process is not confined…

A conditional fee agreement satisfying the statutory conditions under section 58 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 is not unenforceable for champerty…

An adjudication award will not be enforced where the circumstances establish a real possibility of adjudicator bias or a breach of natural justice.…

A Tomlin Order may contain implied terms requiring the parties to co-operate, exchange necessary information and act with reasonable speed where its factual…

A contractual right to terminate for breach must be construed in its commercial context. A clause permitting termination for breach of any term may, depending…

A letter of intent may create an interim agreement without incorporating the proposed standard-form contract. A subsequent offer of complete contractual terms…

In a construction professional-negligence claim, delay-related financing loss is recoverable in principle where the claimant proves a direct causal connection…

Where parties agree an architect’s instruction as a variation to an existing construction contract, the instruction may have contractual effect even though the…

The appointment procedure in the Scheme for Construction Contracts must be followed. After notice of adjudication, the named adjudicator must first be…

A contractor may recover reasonable additional remuneration where the employer varies the contract and materially enlarges its scope. Contractual payment…