High Court: Technology and Construction Court judgments, 2024

A building liability order under section 130 of the Building Safety Act 2022 may be made only in respect of a relevant liability within section 130(3). The…

For adjudication purposes, a dispute generally crystallises once it can reasonably be inferred that a claim is not admitted. The court should identify the…

Contractual interest depends on the payment obligations created by the agreement, not on the date when liability is established by judgment. Where the contract…

A professional adviser’s contractual and tortious duty is determined objectively by the scope and purpose of the engagement. A planning-related purpose does…

Strike-out for disclosure breaches is an exceptional and proportionate remedy. The relevant relief-from-sanctions principles apply, but the court must…

A contractual power described as rescission may, on its wording and context, operate as termination rather than rescission ab initio. Termination of a…

A contractual variation may postpone the commencement of works where the contract defines a variation broadly enough to include a change to the period in which…

A preliminary issue should generally be ordered only where it is decisive or potentially decisive, raises a sufficiently precise question, can be tried…

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

In a design and build contract, broad obligations concerning design, site conditions, statutory compliance and completion may allocate responsibility for…

Permission to appeal from a summary judgment decision requires a real prospect of success on at least one proposed ground. An appellate court is unlikely to…

Part 36 is a self-contained procedural code. A compliant offer attracts its prescribed costs consequences unless it would be unjust to apply them. The…

A claimant seeking to enforce an adjudicator’s award has no general obligation to provide confidential financial information before enforcement proceedings.…

Payment of a deposit is a condition precedent to exercising a land option only where the contract, properly construed, makes it an essential constituent of…

Insolvency does not create an automatic bar to enforcement of an adjudication award. The court must balance the adjudication regime against the insolvency…

Part 8 proceedings are suitable for determining a discrete contractual interpretation issue where the alleged disputed facts are irrelevant to construction of…

Without prejudice privilege is principally concerned with inter-party communications genuinely aimed at settling a dispute. It may extend to communications…

A court should not reopen or correct matters determined in an earlier judgment where the time for raising the issue has passed and the court has no…

On an application for strike-out or summary judgment, the court must distinguish a claim that is legally bound to fail from one requiring factual investigation…

Adjudication decisions should be enforced summarily unless a serious breach of natural justice is established. The alleged breach must have made a material…

An adjudicator’s allocation of liability for his own fees is ancillary to the adjudication and may be treated differently from the substantive decision. The…

A contract may be formed by acceptance of a purchase order which incorporates the buyer’s standard terms. A later invoice referring to the seller’s terms will…

A contractual period expressed in months expires on the corresponding calendar date, unless the contract provides otherwise. A provision excluding public…

Adjudicators’ decisions requiring payment of a notified sum are ordinarily enforced summarily and without set-off. A party that has not paid the notified sum…

Interest claimed as financing costs must be supported by a reasonable assessment of the period and rate for which the loss was incurred. A broad-brush midpoint…

For limitation purposes, an insurance claim accrues according to the insured peril identified by construing the policy. Where cover responds to the insured…

A judge may correct an internal error in a judgment at any time before the order is sealed, where doing so serves justice and no party has detrimentally relied…

In adjudication enforcement proceedings, the scope of a referred dispute is identified in broad terms. It is not confined by the referring party’s evidence or…

Disclosure directions should be proportionate to the issues, likely evidential value and anticipated cost. A proposed search term may be refused where it is…

A preliminary issue should be ordered only where it is likely to reduce the scope of the main trial materially and without creating a risk of inconsistent…

An adjudicator’s decision will ordinarily be enforced if made within jurisdiction, subject to limited exceptions. A party’s inaccurate or partial summary of…

Issuing proceedings to protect limitation rights is not, by itself, an abuse of process. Abuse arises where the claimant has no known basis for a claim and…

For disclosure purposes, practical or de facto control exists where the evidence establishes an arrangement or understanding that a third party will search for…

A contractual prohibition on assignment may make a direct assignment of contractual rights ineffective against the debtor. It does not necessarily prevent the…

The statutory right to refer a construction dispute to adjudication at any time is broad. The court will restrain an ongoing adjudication only in rare and…

Section 44(3) of the Arbitration Act 1996 permits urgent orders only where the order sought concerns a matter within section 44(2) and is necessary to preserve…

Under a contractual definition of third party income, deductible costs are limited to costs directly incurred in generating the relevant income. Direct costs…

A contractual right to supplement a subcontractor’s labour arises only after compliance with the contract’s notice requirements. A party cannot rely on its own…

Contractual construction is a unitary and iterative exercise. The court must ascertain the objective meaning of the language in the agreement, read in its…

An adjudicator’s decision is ordinarily enforced despite an error. However, the court may correct an incontrovertible error on a summary enforcement…

Permission to replace an expert is a case-management decision governed by the overriding objective. Serious non-compliance by legal representatives does not…

Permission to issue a late contribution claim may be granted where the proposed contributor already knew that the underlying claim remained live and has…

Costs are governed by the broad discretion in CPR 44.2. The unsuccessful party will usually pay the successful party’s costs, but an issue-based or percentage…

For procurement claims under Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the 30-day period in Regulation 92(2) begins with the date of actual or constructive knowledge…

A settlement of adjudication enforcement proceedings must be construed according to its wording and commercial context. A release of claims arising from or…

A contractual delay regime must be construed according to its language and commercial context. Relief for an authority-caused delay required proof that the…

The power under CPR 8.1(4) is a case-management power exercised in accordance with the overriding objective. The court should consider all relevant…

Where security for costs is ordered in a tranche payable six weeks before trial, and the trial is subsequently postponed, the court may vary the order so that…

An executed construction contract is not ordinarily treated as conditional on funding where the contract contains no such condition and the contemporaneous…

The court may depart from the usual costs order where a successful application has been necessitated by the applicant’s unreasonable conduct. In disclosure…

Strike out is reserved for a statement of case that discloses no legally recognisable claim, is unreasonably vague or incoherent, abuses the court’s process…

An adjudicator’s statutory power to correct a clerical or typographical error is narrow. It permits correction of an accidental error in the expression or…

On an application to amend pleadings, the court must identify whether the proposed case introduces a new cause of action by comparing the essential factual…

Skeleton arguments in the Technology and Construction Court should be concise, ordinarily no longer than 20 to 25 pages, and should not replace oral…

Summary judgment should be refused where the evidence, even if apparently agreed by experts, leaves a real issue as to whether the alleged contractual failure…

The Part 8 procedure is appropriate where the court is asked to decide a precise question that is unlikely to involve a substantial dispute of fact. Contract…

A contractual payment schedule that modifies an express payment mechanism takes precedence only where the two arrangements conflict. When the schedule expires…

An application made before expiry of the time specified in an unless order is an in-time application to extend time under CPR Part 3.1(2)(a), rather than an…

In a terminal dilapidations claim, the tenant’s liability is assessed by the reasonable cost of works necessary to remedy breaches, subject to mitigation…

In managing a staged trial, the court may refuse to add further sample agreements where the parties have not had a proper opportunity to assess the…

A Model C disclosure request is permissible where the documents sought are described with sufficient precision for the disclosing party to identify and search…

Litigation privilege protects witness interview notes where litigation was reasonably contemplated and the dominant purpose of obtaining the interviews was to…

An order for extended disclosure may be varied where the applicant establishes that the variation is necessary for the just disposal of the proceedings and…

Part 8 proceedings are appropriate only where the claim is unlikely to involve a substantial dispute of fact. A claim concerning compliance with contractual…

An application for disclosure guidance under Practice Direction 57AD is appropriate only where there is a significant, identifiable difference of approach…

Case-management decisions should be directed to the efficient, fair and proportionate preparation of the issues for trial. Multiple legal representatives may…

Where construction drawings and specifications are supplied before contracting and are plainly intended to define the work, they may be incorporated into the…

In determining costs of interlocutory applications, the court assesses which party was substantially successful and applies the usual principle that costs…

In a regulated procurement, a tenderer must comply with fundamental requirements stated in the tender documents. A contracting authority may reject a…

Under a termination regime applying where the employer completes the works, a provision referring to the total amount that would have been payable for the…

Under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972, the statutory duty is directed to the outcome that a dwelling is fit for habitation when completed.…

On a strike-out and summary judgment application, the court may decide a short point of law or contractual construction without conducting a mini-trial. A…

A claim for a Building Liability Order need not be heard with the underlying claim. However, where such an order is contemplated, it will generally be sensible…

A conclusive evidence clause suspends the evidential effect of a final payment notice where adjudication proceedings are commenced within the contractual…

When a party fails to pay a judgment debt ordered during ongoing litigation, the court may extend the time for payment and make continuation of the claim…

A solicitor must have the individual’s consent to commence proceedings concerning that individual’s private rights. Customary authority held by community…

Where an application substantially fails but exposes a pleading deficiency requiring amendment, the unsuccessful applicant may be ordered to pay the successful…

Summary judgment is unavailable where the defendant has a real, rather than fanciful, prospect of succeeding on a contractual construction issue. A detailed…

Confidentiality designations made during disclosure do not determine the treatment of documents at trial. The party seeking continued confidentiality bears the…

Insurance policy clauses concerning declared trading conditions must be construed in their contractual and statutory context. A statement that particular…

Disclosure of litigation-funding information may be ordered in support of a prospective non-party costs application. The applicant need not show that the…

A properly arguable environmental clean-up claim should not be summarily dismissed merely because an agreed remediation scheme is substantially complete.…

Contractual adjudication provisions satisfy the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 where, read at the time of contracting, they have the…

On an application for strike-out or summary judgment, the claimant need show a realistic, rather than fanciful, prospect of success. The court must avoid a…

Part 8 proceedings may determine disputed factual matters where the court can scrutinise the evidence and conclude that the opposing case has no real prospect…

Extended disclosure must be tailored to the issue and assessed by reference to what is reasonable and proportionate. Model B is appropriate where the relevant…

Parties seeking judicial guidance on disclosure issues should identify the precise issue by application notice. They should explain why court guidance is…

A proposed amendment must plead the claimant’s case with sufficient particularity to enable the opposing party to understand the case it must meet. A general…

A contractual dispute-resolution clause may make adjudication a condition precedent to litigation where, construed as a whole, it clearly makes court…

Contractual exclusion and limitation clauses are construed by ordinary principles of contractual interpretation. Clear words may limit liability for deliberate…

Permission to amend a statement of case depends on the overriding objective and requires a balance between prejudice to the applicant, the opposing parties and…

For adjudication jurisdiction, a referral may contain alternative routes to determining a single disputed claim for payment. The court should adopt a broad…