High Court: Technology and Construction Court judgments, 2014

Section 68(2)(d) of the Arbitration Act 1996 addresses serious procedural failures, not whether an arbitral tribunal reached the correct legal or factual…

On an application to lift the automatic suspension in a public procurement challenge, the court applies the American Cyanamid approach. The claimant must show…

An adjudicator must consider substantive defences properly raised by a responding party, including defences not advanced before the adjudication. The…

For the purposes of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, substantial plant or machinery installed in a building may constitute…

A contractual procedure requiring an engineer’s decision before arbitration may operate as a condition precedent to arbitral jurisdiction. The condition…

Costs incurred in enforcing an adjudicator’s award must be assessed by reference to reasonableness and proportionality. The court should consider the nature…

Under a construction contract providing interim payments through a defined notice regime, the contractor’s entitlement during the project arises only through…

Adjudication provisions in a main contract are not incorporated into a subcontract merely because the subcontract incorporates obligations flowing down the…

Under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972, a dwelling is assessed at completion by reference to contemporary standards. Fitness for habitation…

A manufacturer of a safety device owes a duty to take reasonable care where the device is supplied for use in a foreseeable safety-critical application. That…

A construction contract may be binding before execution of a formal document if the parties’ words and conduct objectively show agreement on the terms…

Costs following a Part 8 claim should reflect the parties’ overall success and the costs generated by particular issues. A purely issue-based order is…

A payment notice regime is intended to secure prompt payment in construction disputes. The absence of a Pay Less Notice does not necessarily determine the…

For the purposes of the prohibition on repeat adjudications, the relevant comparison is between the dispute and decision actually determined, not every issue…

The court has a broad discretion to order a losing party to pay the reasonable costs of an interested party. A separate costs order may be justified where that…

Regulation 30 of the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2006 does not impose a general duty on a utility to investigate every tender which appears unusually low…

A fraudulent representation made in an application to an adjudicator-nominating body may invalidate the nomination and deprive the adjudicator of jurisdiction.…

Applications to lift the automatic suspension of a public procurement contract are governed by the American Cyanamid approach. The court should first ask…

Where a contractual obligation to provide a performance bond has become practically impossible to perform in its original form, the court may, in an…

In substantial TCC litigation, the court should ordinarily facilitate ADR through a sensible trial timetable rather than impose a lengthy stay or dedicated ADR…

Challenges to enforcement of an adjudicator’s decision should succeed only in the plainest cases, where the adjudicator decided a question not referred or…

An adjudicator’s decision may be enforced despite mistakes of fact or law, including inadvertent procedural errors, unless the error amounts to a sufficiently…

In adjudication enforcement proceedings, jurisdiction is determined primarily by the Notice of Adjudication, read with the dispute which had crystallised and…

In procurement challenges, early specific disclosure should ordinarily provide the essential information and documents needed to assess whether the evaluation…

A settlement agreement is assessed objectively. An offer to discontinue proceedings may be accepted by the other party’s payment of the specified sum. A…

The court has jurisdiction under Senior Courts Act 1981, section 51, to order a non-party to pay litigation costs. The discretion is exceptional but…

A contractual dispute resolution clause must be construed so that its adjudication machinery has practical effect. Under the FIDIC provisions considered, a…

On an interim injunction application, the court should avoid making final findings on serious, fact-dependent allegations where the evidence is disputed, the…

In public procurement, a contracting authority must evaluate tenders objectively, transparently and equally, using disclosed criteria directed to identifying…

Refusal to mediate may be unreasonable even where a party reasonably considers that it has a strong case. The court should assess the nature and merits of the…

Applications to lift an automatic suspension under the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2006 are governed by the two-stage approach in American Cyanamid Co v…

A third party entitled to enforce contractual terms under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 is not thereby entitled to invoke a contractual…

For a claim under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, a claimant need prove a defect in broad terms; precise identification of the defect is unnecessary. The…

Where one commercial agreement is stated to be governed by the terms of another, the referenced terms ordinarily regulate and are incorporated into the later…

In exercising the discretion on costs, the court must consider all the circumstances, including the parties’ conduct and their relative success on particular…

In multi-party proceedings, the court has a broad discretion as to costs. It may order an unsuccessful defendant to pay costs incurred in pursuing another…

On an application to lift the automatic suspension of a public procurement contract, the court applies the American Cyanamid approach. It asks whether there is…

Manufacturers of equipment for potentially explosive atmospheres must address foreseeable operating conditions and reasonably anticipated misuse, including…

A landlord’s obligations under separate lease schedules may be cumulative. An insurance-reinstatement clause does not restrict a broader obligation to make…

Security for costs is discretionary. The court must balance the claimant’s ability to pursue a proper claim against the defendant’s risk of unrecovered costs…

Where a contract makes practical completion depend on specified completion criteria, the certifier must apply those criteria. A technical or minor departure…

An insurance policy protecting purchasers against loss of deposits engages when the developer enters bankruptcy, liquidation or dissolution and has failed to…

A valuer is liable only for loss falling within the scope of the duty undertaken. In a lending case, the lender must distinguish loss caused by the valuation…

A consent order is treated like a judgment, but it determines only the issues actually determined by its terms and necessary effect. It does not automatically…

Issue-based costs orders should be made only where the circumstances require them. The court should begin with the general rule that costs follow the event…

An architect must exercise the reasonable skill, care and diligence expected of an ordinary competent and skilled architect. Professional judgment remains…

A contract may arise from a tender, an instruction to proceed and subsequent performance, even though no formal contract is executed. The court determines…

A contractual termination clause making remedial action subjectively satisfactory to one party is subject to implied limits of honesty, good faith…

A director or employee who performs services through a company incurs personal liability for pure economic loss only where, viewed objectively, words or…

A statutory compensation code displaces common-law remedies where, on its proper construction, the statutory scheme is comprehensive and the remedies are…

A costs budget signed by a person who is not a senior legal representative is irregular, but it is not thereby a nullity. CPR 3.14 imposes its automatic…

A reasonable and prudent landowner is not generally required to engage an arboriculturalist to inspect every tree periodically without a warning sign or other…

A customer is liable for usage-based telecommunications charges only where the contract makes liability depend on the customer’s use, or where the customer is…

Summary judgment requires the court to decide whether the claim has a realistic, rather than fanciful, prospect of success. The court must avoid a mini-trial…

Where a successful claimant’s conduct has unnecessarily or unreasonably increased the costs of proceedings, the court may reduce the costs recoverable, taking…

Under a building contract, an “appropriate deduction” for defects which the contractor is not to remedy is not necessarily confined to the contract rates or…

On the proper construction of an insolvency termination clause in a partnering contract, a provision stating that the client is not bound to make any further…

Where a court has established a timetable and procedure for experimental evidence, a party cannot ordinarily introduce late experiments or test results shortly…

Summary judgment is inappropriate where the claim depends on materially disputed facts requiring investigation at trial. The court must not conduct a…

In determining whether a procurement claim was commenced in time, the court must construe the claim form as a whole. Only brief details of the nature of the…

Completion of a case management information sheet does not satisfy the separate obligation to file and serve a costs budget under the Civil Procedure Rules…

Recognition and enforcement of a New York Convention award must ordinarily be ordered unless a ground in section 103 of the Arbitration Act 1996 is…

Under a FIDIC-style construction contract, physical conditions are “Unforeseeable” only if they were not reasonably foreseeable by an experienced contractor at…

Contractual amendments must be construed objectively and as a whole. Deleting an article containing an adjudication provision does not remove a separate…

A construction contract may impose both an obligation to exercise reasonable care and skill and an express obligation to achieve a specified result. Where the…

Part 36 is a self-contained and prescriptive costs regime. Where a claimant beats a valid offer, the court should ordinarily order the specified enhancements…

An adjudication decision is enforceable despite an alleged error of fact or law, provided its terms are sufficiently certain. A party may reserve its…

For the purpose of a contractual conclusive-evidence clause, adjudication proceedings under the Scheme commence when a valid notice of adjudication is given…

Relief from a procedural sanction will usually be granted where the breach is trivial or insignificant and the application is made promptly. Whether a breach…

In group litigation involving claims governed by Nigerian law, preliminary-issues directions limiting expert evidence must be respected. Additional reports…

Permission to amend a pleading or withdraw an admission is discretionary. The court must consider all the circumstances and give effect to the overriding…

Commercial exclusion and limitation clauses are construed by the ordinary principles applicable to contracts. Clear language is applied, even where the result…

For limitation purposes, a negligent subcontractor’s liability may accrue before the main contractor’s liability to the employer is formally quantified. A…

A professional designer may be negligent despite conformity with prevailing industry practice where the practice was adopted without identifying and logically…

Under section 44 of the Arbitration Act 1996, the court may grant urgent interim relief to preserve evidence or assets where the arbitral tribunal has no…

Parties issuing protective proceedings close to limitation must pursue them promptly and effectively. An extension of time for serving a Claim Form may be…

An insured must prove that a policy condition relating to occupancy was satisfied. A property may be “unoccupied” because it is insufficiently furnished for…

Failure to comply with a costs timetable is a factor in determining costs, but does not justify a reduction where it caused no practical disadvantage and the…

A costs budget is not a nullity merely because it fails to comply perfectly with the formal requirements for a statement of truth. Filing and exchanging a…

Contract formation depends objectively on what the parties communicated by words or conduct. The parties determine which terms must be agreed before they are…

A challenge under section 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996 is a limited longstop remedy. The court does not review whether an arbitral tribunal reached the…

A JCT adjudication clause permitting referral of disputes arising under the contract does not extend to a claim for damages under Misrepresentation Act 1967. A…

Damage to a chattel causes an immediate direct loss, measured by the diminution in value caused by the damage. Where the chattel can be economically repaired…

Indemnity costs require conduct that is unreasonable to a high degree and takes the litigation out of the norm. A merely weak or misguided claim or defence…

A letter of intent may create a binding interim construction contract where it identifies the work, performance requirements and remuneration with sufficient…

In adjudication, the scope of the dispute is determined principally by the notice of adjudication, construed against the crystallised dispute between the…

A bespoke professional-services agreement may make payment conditional upon completion of further work beyond the grant of planning permission. Where the…

A claim should be struck out or summarily determined only where it has no real prospect of success. An assignment made in breach of an anti-assignment clause…