High Court: Technology and Construction Court judgments, 2025

Cover for a defect causing a threat of imminent destruction or physical damage requires an objectively realistic risk that the damage will occur sufficiently…

An adjudication award will ordinarily be enforced unless the adjudicator decided a question not referred or acted in an obviously unfair manner. An adjudicator…

A contractual expert determination is not binding where the expert materially departs from the contractual mandate, including by failing to apply the correct…

A freezing order may be continued where the claimant shows a good arguable case, a real risk that enforcement will be frustrated by unjustified dissipation of…

An anti-suit injunction restraining a foreign evidence-gathering application may be granted where the application materially interferes with, or prejudices…

Summary judgment and strike out are inappropriate where a pleaded contractual claim has a real prospect of success and the proposed grounds depend on disputed…

Where an automatic suspension in a procurement challenge is lifted, the successful party will ordinarily recover the costs of that application. The fact that…

An agreement to postpone a pre-action meeting does not, without more, extend a court-ordered stay or the time for serving proceedings. A stay cannot be imposed…

Under Brazilian environmental law, strict liability applies to a person or entity directly or indirectly responsible for a polluting activity where that…

Summary judgment may determine discrete issues, even where the wider claim will proceed to trial, provided the issue is suitable for summary determination. The…

In construction payment disputes, a payment schedule may identify the relevant valuation date even if it uses different terminology from the standard-form…

On an application to lift an automatic suspension in a procurement challenge, the court must apply the interim-injunction approach required by regulation 96(2)…

In applications concerning the automatic suspension of a public procurement contract, damages may be inadequate where loss of the contract would probably cause…

For defective building work, damages are generally assessed by the reasonable cost of repair or reinstatement. Demolition and rebuilding is an exceptional…

Finality generally prevents a judgment being reopened to correct an alleged error arising from a party’s failure to present its case properly, even where the…

Private nuisance requires a substantial interference with the ordinary use and enjoyment of land, assessed objectively by reference to an ordinary person in…

On summary enforcement of adjudication decisions, a defence must have a realistic prospect of success and carry some degree of conviction; a merely arguable…

A judge is not bound by expert evidence, including evidence from a single joint expert. The judge must consider relevant expert evidence and explain any…

An adjudicator asked to determine a global valuation may reach an intermediate valuation based on the parties’ evidence and submissions, including a fair and…

Summary assessment of costs is ordinarily appropriate, but it may be unsuitable where the costs claimed involve unusual hourly rates, complex and specialist…

Part 36 consequences may be applied separately to distinct elements of proceedings. An offer may be a genuine attempt to settle a claim but not a counterclaim…

Alternative security for costs by ATE insurance may be accepted where the policy gives the defendant protection equivalent to payment into court. The policy…

In a construction adjudication, the statutory obligation to pay a notified sum ordinarily takes priority over a true-value adjudication. A responding party may…

On an application to amend, the court must balance the applicant’s interest in determining the real dispute against fairness, proportionality, expedition and…

A contractual estimate of the time required for works is not a fixed completion period where the contract describes the programme as indicative. The reasonable…

An interested party does not automatically acquire all the rights and obligations of a party under the Civil Procedure Rules. The court must determine, for the…

Contractual damages for construction defects are assessed by comparing the actual position with the position that would have existed but for the breaches. Loss…

Confidentiality rings in procurement litigation require a fact-sensitive balance between protecting highly sensitive commercial information and enabling the…

In deciding whether substantive proceedings should proceed under Part 7 or Part 8, the court should first identify the procedural steps practically required to…

A criminal contempt application may disclose reasonable grounds where foreign proceedings are allegedly procured or funded with the specific purpose of…

Costs following an application concerning the scope of a freezing injunction are discretionary. The court should consider success, the reasonableness of…

An interim payment application under the statutory construction payment regime is valid where it is objectively clear, in substance, form and intent, that…

Security for costs is governed by the specific regime in CPR Part 25. An interested party joined to proceedings in that capacity cannot obtain security under…

An express contractual duty of good faith takes its meaning from the contract and its commercial context. In a joint bidding arrangement, it may require…

A jurisdictional challenge to adjudication enforcement which depends on disputed evidence is unsuitable for summary determination where the defendant has a…

Requests under Civil Procedure Rules 1998 Part 18 must satisfy two threshold conditions: they must concern a matter in dispute and be strictly confined to…

On an application under CPR Parts 3 and 24, pleaded facts are assumed to be true for strike-out purposes, but the court may determine a properly arguable point…

An ATE policy may provide security for costs where it gives real protection against the defendant’s costs not being paid in full. The relevant risk must be…

On an application for an interim injunction requiring continued contractual performance, the court should not determine the applicable merits threshold solely…

Costs ordinarily follow the event, but the court may make a different order where the successful party lost a significant issue which caused the unsuccessful…

When enforcing an adjudicator’s decision obtained by a company in liquidation or administration, security must protect the responding party as nearly as…

Where privileged documents have been inadvertently disclosed, permission to use them is governed by an equitable, fact-sensitive assessment. The central…

A costs management order may be made after the date on which budgets were filed. Such an order is not retrospective where it records the court’s assessment of…

A duty on a construction professional to review design information may arise during construction even where the original design is incomplete or materially…

The High Court’s equitable power to grant injunctions is wide, but its exercise remains discretionary and principled. Where unlawful conduct has tainted a…

Adjudicators’ decisions should generally be enforced unless it is plain that the adjudicator decided a question outside the reference or acted obviously…

A construction contract may be concluded through informal electronic communications where the objective circumstances show agreement on the scope, price and…

In a professional negligence claim arising from construction defects, an architect’s contractual scope of duty depends primarily on the appointment, read with…

In a professional negligence claim concerning allegedly defective engineering design, the court assesses the final design, rather than the design process in…

On an application to lift the automatic suspension of a public procurement contract, the court must apply the established interlocutory adequacy-of-damages…

In a defective construction claim, the cost of reinstatement is ordinarily the measure of loss where reinstatement is a proportionate and reasonable response.…

A claim for a mandatory injunction may be particularised by amendment where the relief has always formed part of the pleaded case and the proposed terms are…

A settlement agreement may vary an earlier construction contract without replacing it. An adjudication clause in the earlier contract can therefore survive…

Under CPR 19.6, substitution after expiry of the limitation period remains discretionary, even where the statutory conditions for substitution are satisfied.…

In construing a construction contract, bespoke risk-allocation provisions must be read with the contract as a whole and according to their ordinary and natural…

An assignment transfers contractual rights and benefits, but not burdens, obligations or liabilities, unless the transaction amounts to a novation agreed by…

The without prejudice rule does not automatically protect an independent report commissioned from a third party merely because its commissioning was discussed…

A software licence must be construed according to its wording, context and commercial purpose, but subject to mandatory statutory rights under the Software…

An information order under section 132 of the Building Safety Act 2022 is ancillary to a possible building liability order. It may be sought before the…

Permission to serve proceedings out of the jurisdiction requires a real, rather than fanciful, prospect of success. The court assesses the proposed pleadings…

A contractual restriction on assigning the benefit of an appointment may encompass both rights to future performance and accrued rights of action, unless the…

On an application to lift an automatic suspension in a public procurement, the court applies the American Cyanamid principles. A serious issue requires a claim…

Strike out or summary judgment should not be granted where a claim turns on the construction of a complex contract and the court cannot safely conclude that…

A party does not establish issue estoppel merely by relying on an argument previously advanced in support of a different issue. Issue estoppel requires the…

In complex procurement litigation, a party’s inadvertent disclosure of privileged documents must not be permitted to dictate the case-management timetable…

Under the statutory construction payment regime, a payless notice may be served after receipt of a valid interim payment application and before the period for…

Permission to amend a statement of case is discretionary and must be determined by applying the overriding objective. A late amendment must have a real, rather…

A registered legal charge created for valuable consideration takes priority over an earlier unprotected interest affecting the charged estate or charge. The…

A statement of case may be struck out where it is legally unwinnable, or is so vague and incoherent that it impedes the fair and efficient conduct of…

On an application under regulations 95 and 96(1)(a) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the court must assess the adequacy of damages for both parties…

In costs management, the ordinary starting point remains that costs are in the case. That starting point may be displaced where a party adopts an unrealistic…

An Unless Order takes effect automatically when its terms are not met. Compliance is assessed by asking whether the response was plainly incomplete or…