High Court: Technology and Construction Court judgments, 2023

On an application under section 9 of the Arbitration Act 1996, the applicant must establish that the respondent is bound by a concluded arbitration agreement…

On an application for strike-out or summary judgment, the court applies the same legal test where the alleged defect is that the claim is bad in law. Summary…

Early specific disclosure in a public procurement challenge is governed by the ordinary requirement to identify the pleaded issues, but the court must account…

Part 2 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 applies to a construction contract relating to operations in England. For this purpose…

On a summary judgment application to enforce an adjudicator’s decision, the court may determine a short question of contractual formation or construction where…

The Grove principle prevents a payer from commencing a true-value adjudication before paying a notified sum where the adjudication concerns matters that could…

The court may extend directions and adjust a fixed trial date where necessary to secure a fair hearing, but must balance preparation needs against delay…

For a declaration of ineffectiveness under the Public Contract Regulations 2015, the six-month period is the longstop unless one of the specific routes to a…

A contractual restriction requiring prior consent for assignment may, on its proper construction, apply equally to successive assignments by a permitted…

Applications under Practice Direction 57AD must be directed to the correct disclosure mechanism. Paragraph 17 addresses an alleged failure to comply with an…

An order for security for costs requires both a qualifying condition and a conclusion that the order is just. Where a defendant’s counterclaim substantially…

In a negotiated utilities procurement, the contracting utility must apply the published tender rules objectively, uniformly and transparently. It retains a…

A consultant’s contractual obligations depend on the proper construction of the appointment as a whole. An obligation requiring compliance with a client’s…

For an adjudication under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, the enforcing party must show that all matters included in the…

A defendant who has unsuccessfully challenged jurisdiction may seek an extension of time for a replacement acknowledgment of service, because filing it under…

Permission to appeal should not be granted merely because the result is unusual where the judge has applied established principles to exceptional facts. A…

On a summary judgment application, a contract is made on written standard terms only where those terms are used routinely and remain effectively untouched.…

At the preliminary stage, the question is whether a claim has sufficient substance and is properly pleaded, not whether it will ultimately succeed. The court…

On an application to lift the automatic suspension of a public procurement, the court applies the American Cyanamid guidelines within a broad statutory…

A stay of execution of a judgment enforcing an adjudicator’s decision is exceptional. The court must nevertheless exercise its discretion under CPR 83.7 where…

An adjudicator’s decision will ordinarily be enforced by summary judgment. The court does not review the merits and intervenes only in limited circumstances…

In deciding a last-minute application to adjourn a trial, the court must balance the need for a fixed trial date and efficient use of court resources against…

Without prejudice material deployed in an adjudication may make the adjudicator’s decision unenforceable where, viewed objectively, a fair-minded and informed…

Adjudicators’ decisions are ordinarily enforced summarily because adjudication provides a rapid, temporary resolution of construction disputes. A stay may be…

An adjudication decision is enforceable only if it determines an entitlement capable of enforcement. The court will not convert a conditional valuation or a…

In adjudication-enforcement proceedings, the starting point is summary enforcement unless a genuine and material jurisdictional or natural-justice defence is…

A post-judgment freezing order remains an exceptional discretionary remedy. The applicant must establish a good arguable case, an interest in assets, a real…

A payment on account of costs should normally be based on a broad estimate of the likely recovery, subject to an appropriate margin for error. An interested…

A Part 8 claim is appropriate for a discrete question unlikely to involve a substantial dispute of fact, especially a contractual construction issue capable of…

The court may vary an extended disclosure order only where the additional disclosure is necessary for the just disposal of the proceedings and reasonable and…

Permission to appeal from a decision under section 67 of the Arbitration Act 1996 is governed by the ordinary first-appeal test: whether the appeal has a real…

An exclusive jurisdiction clause must be construed in the context of the agreement as a whole. Broad words may cover non-contractual claims, but the mere fact…

Applications to vary or supplement an extended disclosure order require a focused, evidence-based justification. A party seeking further searches for alleged…

A statement of case in complex TCC litigation must identify the material facts and the precise contractual wording relied upon, separating the factual basis of…

On a jurisdiction challenge to Part 20 claims, the claimant must show a serious issue to be tried, a good arguable case within the relevant gateway, and that…

Where an adjudicator’s temporarily binding decision is later shown to be wrong by a final court determination, the temporary effect of the decision yields…

Applications to extend procedural deadlines are determined by applying the overriding objective and weighing all relevant circumstances. A reasonable extension…

Standing to challenge a procurement award generally belongs to an unsuccessful bidder with an interest in obtaining the contract itself. Sub-contractors…

A merger of Jersey companies under Article 127G of the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991 operates by law. Where a corporate trustee merges with another company, the…

Complexity and the pressure of an adjudication timetable do not, without more, justify refusing enforcement. The question is whether the adjudicator understood…

On a summary judgment application, the court must decide whether the claim has a realistic, rather than fanciful, prospect of success. It must avoid conducting…

Where a party serves a materially defective costs budget by the deadline and a complete replacement budget late, the court may disapply the sanction in CPR…

A contractual project plan may become binding where the agreement contemplates that delivery dates will be fixed or refined during an initial phase and the…

Part 36 consequences are not automatic where an offer is technically valid. The court must consider whether applying them would be unjust, including whether…

A contract’s label does not determine whether it is a public contract or a concession contract. The court must examine the substance of the contract, assessed…

An application for security for costs may be heard before adjudication-enforcement proceedings where doing so will not delay or derail the enforcement hearing.…

A Part 8 claim may exceptionally determine a short, self-contained issue of contractual construction arising from an adjudication. The court is not confined to…

The court has a broad discretion on costs and must consider all the circumstances. A change in the valuation of a successful claim does not, without evidence…

A stay of execution under CPR 83.7 requires the applicant to establish inability to pay or special circumstances. Where inability to pay is alleged, the…

A construction contract may treat a late payment application as valid for calculating a postponed due date, but that does not make the application one…

An interim injunction before proceedings requires urgency or that the order is desirable in the interests of justice under CPR 25.2(1). The court applies the…

Contractual limitation clauses are construed by applying ordinary principles of contractual interpretation in their documentary, factual and commercial…

An employer cannot commence a true-value adjudication while an immediate obligation to pay a notified sum under the Housing Grants, Construction and…

Under regulation 72 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the gateways permitting modification of a public contract without a fresh procurement must be…

A contractor that has settled an employer’s claim may pursue a contribution from a subcontractor without proving its own actual liability, provided it would…

At a first case management conference in complex group litigation, the court should define a first-stage trial so that it determines coherent and material…

Disclosure applications should be determined by reference to relevance, reliability, reasonableness and proportionality. Where recordings are potentially…

Under CPR 44.2, the successful party’s costs are the starting point, but the court may make a proportionate reduction for failure on significant issues and…

Adjudicators’ decisions requiring payment should generally be enforced promptly and without set-off or withholding. A limited exception may arise where two…

A preliminary issue should be ordered where it can determine the proceedings or a significant issue, materially reduce preparation or trial costs, or improve…

Where parallel Part 7 enforcement proceedings and Part 8 declaratory proceedings concern an adjudication decision, the court should ordinarily determine…

The court has a general discretion under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 and its case-management powers to permit a party to replace an expert. The discretion…

For the purpose of a contractual deadline, “days” are not “clear days” unless the contract says so. Where an obligation must be performed on a particular…

Summary judgment should generally be granted on a contractual construction issue only where the court has a clear view and the issue is suitable for final…

On an application for summary judgment, the court must determine whether the claim has a realistic, rather than fanciful, prospect of success without…

In construing an insurance policy, proximate cause is identified by a practical judgment applying common sense. The relevant cause need not be the event…

A fuel-delivery contractor may rely on assurances from an ostensibly competent professional managing agent about the condition and ullage of an oil tank…

In a procurement challenge, the court applies the American Cyanamid approach when deciding whether to lift an automatic suspension. It asks whether there is a…

For limitation purposes, actionable damage from a marine oil spill accrues when the claimant’s land or water supplies are first impacted. The court rejected…

Procedural steps taken during a stay are not automatically nullities. A stay postpones the enforcement of procedural obligations and extends deadlines, but it…

An adjudicator may request security for fees from both parties during an adjudication. Such a request is not, without more, an unlawful lien or evidence of…

In a procurement using an electronic portal, uploading tender material is preparatory; submission requires completion of the portal’s submission step before…

In a procurement challenge, the 30-day period runs when the claimant has sufficient knowledge of the essential facts to form an informed view that an…

Adjudication decisions are ordinarily enforced summarily as interim cash-flow measures. The court does not reconsider factual or legal errors, or the merits of…

Construction adjudication decisions are ordinarily enforced promptly because they provide temporary finality. A stay of execution may be justified where the…

Contractual terms may be incorporated by reference where the document gives reasonable notice of them, including a reference to standard terms available on a…

Putting a claim on hold during proceedings can amount to abuse of process, but prolonged delay alone does not. The court must determine whether the claimant…

A person with exclusive possession of land, or sufficient control and a right of possession, may sue in trespass. A right of entry does not authorise conduct…

Applications to amend a case and introduce further expert evidence are case-management decisions governed by the overriding objective. Where an application is…

A detailed commercial contract will not ordinarily contain implied terms merely because they would be fair or commercially desirable. Implication requires…

A limitation defence may be raised in adjudication proceedings where the dispute concerns a stale contractual payment claim. The six-year period under the…

Permission to appeal under section 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996 requires the applicant to show that the question substantially affects the parties’ rights…