High Court: Technology and Construction Court judgments, 2018

An adjudicator’s jurisdiction depends on the contractual or statutory route by which the appointment was made. It is insufficient that an adjudicator could…

On a summary judgment application, the court may reject a defence based on a factual contention that is clearly hopeless, but must avoid conducting a…

Under a contract providing for sectional completion, Practical Completion of an individual section does not require the whole of the works to be complete…

Costs should not automatically follow the ultimate result where the litigation involved substantial and separable issues on which the parties achieved…

Where a summary judgment application is properly commenced on the basis of the defences then advanced, the claimant is not required to anticipate wholly new…

A professional who voluntarily provides services may owe a tortious duty to exercise reasonable skill and care, but the duty extends only to services actually…

A freezing injunction requires a good arguable case and a real risk that assets will be dissipated unjustifiably. The possibility that assets may be dealt with…

A contract must be construed as a whole, giving primary weight to its language while considering the documentary, factual and commercial context. Where…

Adjudication decisions will ordinarily be enforced by summary judgment. The court should intervene for breach of natural justice only where the question…

Low-value construction claims should generally be commenced in the County Court or another suitable TCC centre. A claim may nevertheless be appropriate for the…

In applications under the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2006 to lift an automatic suspension, the court applies the American Cyanamid test required by…

A court may stay proceedings brought in breach of a binding adjudication agreement, but the discretion must be exercised proportionately and with regard to the…

Permission to withdraw an admission is governed by a broad discretion. The court must consider all the circumstances, including the applicant’s reasons, the…

A claim should not be struck out for inadequate particularity where its essential factual and legal basis is identifiable, even though further detail is…

A transaction is a services concession only where the contracting authority entrusts the operator with services benefiting the authority or its residents…

When the scope of an arbitration reference is disputed, the court construes the notice of arbitration and surrounding communications objectively, considering…

A person who merely declines, without a legal obligation, to provide further funding to a company does not thereby induce the company’s breach of contract. The…

In construing a written contract, the court must determine the express terms from the words used and their relevant contemporaneous context. Subsequent conduct…

On enforcement of an adjudicator’s decision, the court should address a substantive issue only where it is short, self-contained, requires no further evidence…

A Part 36 offer remains a matter of construction, read in the context of Part 36 as a self-contained procedural code. An offer to settle the whole of an…

On summary judgment and strike-out applications, the court must assess whether the claim has a real prospect of success or reasonable grounds, without…

Where a construction contract is oral and contains no adjudication or payment provisions, the terms of the Scheme for Construction Contracts apply. A party may…

In a procurement challenge, the meaning of tender criteria is a question of law. Contracting authorities must apply the published criteria transparently and…

A collateral warranty may operate retrospectively where its wording and factual matrix show that the parties intended the beneficiary to have rights…

On liquidation, mutual claims and cross-claims between the company and its counterparty are subject to the mandatory insolvency account and set-off process.…

Under regulation 92 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015, time runs from when grounds for proceedings arise and when the economic operator first knew or…

A challenge under section 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996 requires more than a harsh procedural ruling. The applicant must show an irregularity in the arbitral…

Under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, a contracting authority has no general duty to investigate every tender that might appear abnormally low. The duty…

A professional adviser who prepares a report for one contracting party does not necessarily owe a tortious duty to a prospective purchaser who receives and…

Adjudicators’ decisions under construction contracts will generally be enforced summarily, even where the adjudicator may have made errors of fact or law.…

In claims arising from negligent or omitted property surveys, diminution in value is the usual measure of loss, but it is not an inflexible rule. The court may…

Where an agreement requires one party to carry out defined works but contains no variations clause, additional work requested by the other party may be…

A contractual notice required as a condition precedent to termination must satisfy the contract’s express information requirements and be sufficiently clear…

In a public procurement, a contracting authority must give reasons that explain the reasoning leading to each score. Lists of positive and negative features…

Under an NEC3 contract, a Project Manager’s assessment is not conclusive unless the contract makes it so. The court may determine the true value of the works…

Declaratory relief is discretionary and requires a real, justiciable dispute. The declaration sought must identify the parties’ rights or obligations with…

A general stay of execution pending appeal ordinarily extends to all money orders consequential upon the judgment, including interest and interim payments on…

In procurement proceedings, the relevant breach may be the contracting authority’s failure to apply the published tender criteria, rather than a defect…

A court may continue a stay to facilitate an agreed remediation process where that process is the best available means of resolving the dispute. The…

An option is exercised according to the proper construction of the agreement. A deposit is not a condition precedent merely because the agreement requires…

Insurance conditions precedent are construed according to their ordinary meaning and commercial context. They must be given effect, but clear wording is…

Under a commercial contract, pricing provisions must be construed by considering their language, the contract as a whole, the relevant background and…

When costs are subject to detailed assessment, the court must order a reasonable sum on account unless there is good reason not to do so. For approved or…

Damages for wrongful termination are assessed by asking what benefits the claimant would have received if the contract had continued until the earliest date on…

Injunctions restraining payment under autonomous bank guarantees are available only in the narrow fraud exception. The claimant must show that it is seriously…

A contract may be formed during performance even where the parties’ exchanges cannot be analysed precisely as offer and acceptance. The court must identify…

For limitation purposes, a contribution claim arising from a settlement under section 10(4) of the Limitation Act 1980 is triggered by a binding agreement as…

Adjudicators’ decisions are ordinarily enforced summarily, even where errors of fact or law are alleged. Fraud may resist enforcement only where supported by…

In project-wide construction insurance, a subcontractor may fall within the class of insureds, but the parties’ express contractual allocation of insurance…

Where the time for filing an acknowledgement of service or defence has expired, a late filing does not, without an extension of time, defeat an application for…

A contractor may recover head-office overheads caused by breach only by proving a recoverable loss. This may arise from delay causing lost opportunities to…

On a summary judgment application to enforce adjudicators’ decisions, a disputed oral novation ordinarily requires an oral hearing where the evidence presents…

Declaratory relief may be granted in Part 8 proceedings where the declaration would serve a useful purpose and would do justice between the parties. The…

A payment or pay less notice is construed objectively, in its factual context, by asking how a reasonable recipient would understand it. Incorporation by…

Under Civil Procedure Rules 1998 Part 38.6, a claimant who discontinues is presumed to pay the discontinued defendant’s costs. The court may depart from that…

Under a pre-construction services agreement, termination provisions may constitute an exclusive regime governing the contractor’s entitlement to further…

In expedited litigation, a compressed timetable increases the need for cooperation and prompt disclosure. It does not justify obstructive conduct or repeated…

On a challenge to a public procurement award, the court considering whether to lift an automatic suspension must ask whether an interim order restraining…

For jurisdiction under the Housing Grants (Construction and Regeneration) Act 1996, the court must examine the dispute actually referred to adjudication. It is…

Electronic disclosure must be managed proportionately, but proportionality does not justify an unexplained or unilateral reduction of a potentially relevant…

An oral construction contract is sufficient to engage the statutory adjudication regime. Whether a contract was concluded, and the identity of the contracting…

A contractual definition of a critical incident required a declaration by or on behalf of the Secretary of State. The declaration was to be made by reference…

Part 8 is appropriate only where the issue is unlikely to involve a substantial dispute of fact. A party cannot reserve disputed factual issues for later…

An insured claiming under a machinery breakdown policy must prove that the damage resulted from a cause which is not excluded. The burden remains on the…

Summary judgment requires the claimant to show a real prospect of success. The case must be better than merely arguable, but the court must avoid conducting a…

Costs against a non-party are exceptional only in the sense that they fall outside the ordinary run of litigation. The governing question is whether, in all…

In assessing contractual damages after a settlement, the court must compare the actual position with the position that would have existed on proper…