High Court: Technology and Construction Court judgments, 2015

In adjudication enforcement proceedings, a misdescription of the contractual route does not deprive an adjudicator of jurisdiction where every realistically…

On an application to lift an automatic suspension under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the court applies the ordinary interim-relief approach. The…

A contract for supplying and installing substantial machinery is a construction contract only if the installation involves construction operations within the…

Disclosure cannot be ordered against a defendant who credibly states that the documents are not in his possession, custody or control unless there is material…

Contractual exclusion and limitation clauses are construed by applying the ordinary principles of contractual interpretation. The court must identify what a…

Specific disclosure must be confined to documents relevant to the issues and sought in a proportionate manner. The court may make a targeted disclosure order…

Expert evidence in professional-negligence proceedings is not automatically required. The court must consider the pleaded issues and ask whether expert…

A Part 36 offer made by a defendant with a counterclaim is classified by construing the offer as a whole. The existence of a counterclaim does not…

In a hybrid construction contract, the Housing Grants (Construction and Regeneration) Act 1996 applies only to the construction operations within its scope.…

A binding settlement may arise from an exchange of emails where the parties’ words and conduct objectively demonstrate an intention to create legal relations…

Where a Part 8 claim produces mixed results on several issues, costs should reflect the parties’ relative success and the proportion of time and preparation…

On a summary judgment application, the court may decide a short point of law or construction where the evidence is sufficient and the parties have had a proper…

For jurisdiction purposes, a contribution claim is characterised by its substance. A claim between parties with no relevant contract is ordinarily a matter…

A contractor seeking additional payment for unforeseen ground conditions must satisfy every contractual condition, including timely notice, materially…

Applications to transfer proceedings into the Technology and Construction Court must be determined by weighing the matters identified in CPR 30.3(2). For…

An adjudicator asked to determine the true value of variations may compare that value with sums already certified and paid, where the referral seeks such other…

Where a party is entitled to apply to strike out a claim for failure to serve Particulars of Claim on time, the costs of that application may be awarded even…

Where security for costs has been provided through an agreed after-the-event insurance policy and incorporated into a court order, the court should not vary…

Costs on opposed amendment applications are not determined solely by identifying which party obtained permission. The court must consider the parties’ conduct…

A contractual adjudication procedure must be construed so that amendments are given practical effect. Where an amendment would otherwise be pointless, the…

An open offer is a package of terms. A party cannot treat part of it as an admission while rejecting the remainder. For judgment under Civil Procedure Rules…

Applications to amend pleadings are assessed by reference to the overriding objective and proportionality. Lateness is relative. An amendment is particularly…

A party may participate in an adjudication while reserving its right to challenge the adjudicator’s jurisdiction at enforcement. Agreement to the adjudicator’s…

A professional client may defend a claim for fees by showing that a discrete professional service was not performed, or was so poorly performed that it was…

An incentive fee agreement payable on a no win, no fee basis may entitle an agent to a percentage of the saving achieved against the original accepted price…

A contractual time bar preventing proceedings by a beneficiary does not, without clear words, extinguish the beneficiary’s underlying right. It therefore does…

Fixed recoverable costs may apply to a low-value road-traffic personal injury claim which began under the RTA Protocol, left the Protocol and Stage 3…

A project monitor must exercise reasonable skill and care in checking drawdown applications, reporting material cost increases, and ensuring that lending is…

On an application to end an automatic suspension under the Public Contracts Regulations 2006, the court applies the ordinary American Cyanamid principles on…

For summary judgment enforcing an adjudicator’s decision, the court asks whether the defendant has no real prospect of successfully defending the claim and…

An interim application under a construction contract must be clear, unambiguous and identifiable in substance, form and intent as an application for a…

Applications for relief from sanctions must be assessed using the three-stage approach in Denton v White: the seriousness and significance of the breach…

An adjudication concerning valuation, termination and payment may constitute a single dispute where the issues are financially and factually linked. A party…

In a dilapidations claim, damages for breach of a repairing covenant are capped by the diminution in the value of the reversion where Landlord and Tenant Act…

Costs budgets should ordinarily be reviewed quickly and with a broad brush. Detailed examination is justified where the aggregate estimate is plainly…

Where a procurement evaluation is fundamentally flawed and the claimant would otherwise have won, the court should not ordinarily compel the contracting…

In public procurement, published award criteria must be clear, precise and unequivocal. Contracting authorities must apply them transparently and treat…

Contractual service-point values expressed as maximum values permit an award within a range, having regard to the gravity and circumstances of the breach. They…

A court should not determine an otherwise academic question merely because a party seeks a declaration. Where an alleged threat to adjudicate has been…

An agent must provide the principal, on demand, with documents relating to the principal’s affairs. The duty is ongoing and extends to documents created during…

Adjudication decisions are generally enforced without reopening issues decided by the adjudicator. An exception arises where the issue is short, self-contained…

A procurement framework for locum doctors may lawfully provide for both direct supply from a supplier’s own resource pool and supplementary supply managed…

Under the current Civil Procedure Rules, a judge may summarily assess costs arising from a hearing conducted, or an order made, by another judge where the…

An adjudicator’s jurisdiction is defined by the dispute identified in the notice of adjudication, rather than by the remedy sought. A dispute concerning…

Under a construction contract, an agreement to alter interim-payment dates may implement an express contractual flexibility rather than vary the contract. An…

Permission to bring committal proceedings for false statements should be granted only after a cautious assessment of whether there is a strong prima facie case…

Permission for late amendments is governed by the overriding objective of dealing with cases justly and at proportionate cost. Lateness is relative and depends…

Indemnity costs require conduct which takes the case out of the ordinary run and is unreasonable to a high degree. A party’s defeat, a robust judgment, or the…

Estoppel by convention may arise where parties to a contract communicate and act upon a shared assumption about fact or law, even without a further concluded…

Under a payment mechanism requiring self-monitoring, contractual payment reports must record all service failures notified to the helpdesk, even where the…

Loss of revenue payable under a contractual performance regime may be recoverable as consequential loss where physical damage to revenue-generating property…

Under section 45 of the Arbitration Act 1996, the court may determine a contractual question of law arising in arbitration where the statutory conditions are…

An after-the-event insurance policy can provide security for costs, but only where its terms and the surrounding circumstances give the defendant real…

Early specific disclosure in procurement litigation depends on the individual circumstances. An unsuccessful tenderer should generally receive promptly the…

An application made shortly before trial for specific disclosure and permission to rely on new expert evidence must be properly justified. Although the…

Relief from sanctions should be refused where a party persistently breaches an order requiring a properly particularised pleading, serves defective particulars…

Summary judgment may be granted where pleaded admissions and an unparticularised denial disclose no arguable defence. A professional negligence counterclaim…

A court may revisit a judgment before the order is sealed, but a party is not ordinarily entitled to reopen submissions merely because it has developed a new…

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

An agreement to refer a construction dispute to adjudication may make the adjudicator’s decision finally binding, rather than temporarily binding, if that is…

A statutory seven-day period for serving a procurement challenge is satisfied when the step required by the relevant rules of court is completed within that…

Adjudicators’ decisions will ordinarily be enforced summarily. A challenge succeeds only where there is a properly arguable breach of natural justice or want…

An adjudicator has no jurisdiction to determine which adjudication provisions govern his appointment or conduct where competing provisions make a material…

An adjudicator’s decision will not be summarily enforced where the circumstances give rise to a real possibility of apparent bias or where the adjudicator…

A professional engineer’s duty to warn is determined in the context of the contractual services undertaken. It is an aspect of the duty to exercise the…

On discontinuance, the claimant ordinarily pays the defendant’s costs under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, rule 38.6(1). The claimant must show a good reason to…

In costs management, the court must take incurred costs into account when fixing future costs so that the overall recoverable costs remain reasonable and…

An adjudicator’s decision on an interim payment must be enforced summarily where the adjudicator answered the question referred and no breach of natural…

In an application to lift the statutory suspension in a public procurement challenge, the court applied the established interim-injunction approach: serious…

A contractual time limit for correcting clerical errors in an adjudication award must be applied objectively. A request is operative only if it identifies the…

Following a finding of serious irregularity under Arbitration Act 1996, remission is the default remedy. The court may set aside an award only where remission…

In a battle of forms, standard terms become contractual only where the party relying on them gives reasonable notice and makes its intention objectively clear.…

Declaratory relief may be granted where there is a live dispute arising from specific existing facts and the declaration will have practical utility, including…

Courts will rarely restrain payment under an on-demand bond. Intervention is justified only where there is a seriously arguable case of fraud known to the…

A JCT final certificate may be challenged only in proceedings commenced within the contractual 28-day period, subject to the specific protection for…

In adjudication enforcement proceedings, a dispute crystallises when a claim is expressly rejected or, depending on the contractual context, when the…

In an oral framework agreement for property development, “build costs” ordinarily comprise direct labour and materials and site-specific preliminaries. They do…

On an application for summary judgment, the court must determine whether the claim has a realistic prospect of success without conducting a mini-trial. A short…

For limitation purposes, deliberate concealment requires more than negligent advice. Under section 32(2) of the Limitation Act 1980, the claimant must show a…

Indemnity costs require conduct that takes the case out of the ordinary run and is generally unreasonable to a high degree. Losing a case, advancing a strongly…

A party wall award incorporating a method statement must be complied with strictly. An obstruction includes material created by the works themselves, where the…

Preliminary issues concerning the meaning and effect of a settlement, waiver or release should be ordered only where they can sensibly be tried separately and…

Failure by an unsuccessful tenderer to trigger the statutory suspension under regulation 47G does not automatically break the chain of causation or bar…