‘Boxing promoter Frank Warren has failed in his effort to avoid paying his solicitors under conditional fee agreements (CFAs) where he did not receive any damages or costs despite winning his case.’
Litigation Futures, 28th March 2018
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘The employer under a standard form construction contract is not under an absolute obligation to obtain planning permission or conservation consent before the works can go ahead, the Court of Appeal has ruled.’
OUT-LAW.com, 22nd March 2018
Source: www.out-law.com
‘Two recent judgments illustrate the difficulties that oral contracts can cause in adjudication enforcement proceedings. The first was Jefford J’s judgment in Hart v Ideal and the second (although actually the first in time) was Fraser J’s judgment in Dacy v IDM (which had also been before Jefford J a couple of years earlier).’
Practical Law: Construction Blog, 20th march 2018
‘Some judgments seem destined to be blogged about (at least by me) and Baldwin v J Pickstock Ltd is one such judgment. It’s all about the adjudicator’s decision (or lack of), whether there was an extension of time for reaching that decision and whether the adjudicator had properly resigned and should be paid for the work he did (even though he did not reach a decision). It’s not quite Cubitt Building & Interiors v Fleetglade, but it does demonstrate how adjudicators need to be alive to banana skin tactics, even those coming from the referring party!’
Practical Law: Construction Blog, 13th March 2018
‘Anglia Ruskin University has said it will robustly defend legal action brought by a former student over what she has said were misleading claims about the quality of teaching.’
Local Government Lawyer, 14th March 2018
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘A law firm with offices in Italy and England has reached the end of the line in challenging a ruling that it was under a duty to warn British and Irish property investors of the risks of investing in a part of Italy associated with organised crime.’
Legal Futures, 9th March 2018
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘Unless you have been hiding under a rock (or have been on holiday somewhere), you can’t have failed to notice that Coulson J has handed down his last substantive TCC judgment. So much has already been written about Grove v S&T and what it means for the construction industry that there’s barely been room for anything else on my Twitter and LinkedIn feeds. There really is nowhere to hide from all the commentary.’
Practical Law: Construction Blog, 6th March 2018
‘The noisy neighbours of a banker must pay her £100,000 in compensation because their floors had no carpet, a judge has ruled.’
Daily Telegraph, 5th March 2018
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘A well-reasoned judgment by Mr Justice Coulson could put an end to the trend of “smash and grab” adjudications, where the payee pursues the other party for the full amount where no valid payment or pay less notice is served.’
OUT-LAW.com, 1st March 2018
Source: www.out-law.com
‘Do long-term contracts need to be construed in a particular way? Do contracts that require the parties to work together and cooperate over a period of many years have their own special rules? Do they demand special treatment when it comes to questions of contractual interpretation? Those are some of the questions raised by the judgment in Amey Birmingham Highways Ltd v Birmingham City Council, in which the Court of Appeal had to grapple with the complexities and oddities of a PFI contract.’
Practical Law: Construction Blog, 27th February 2018
“A broadly-worded settlement clause between a London law firm which sued its former client for unpaid fees was sufficient to prevent a later claim for negligence, the Court of Appeal has confirmed.”
OUT-LAW.com, 13th February 2018
Source: www.out-law.com
‘The Court of Appeal has ruled that a firm cannot be sued for negligence after parties had signed a covenant as part of a settlement agreement.’
Law Society's Gazette, 9th February 2018
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Over the past few months, a number of large construction companies have been making headlines for facing severe financial difficulties. However, sub-contractor insolvency can also cause considerable problems for other parties on construction projects who have contractual relations with that party.’
Practical Law: Construction Blog, 24th January 2018
‘I read the decision in Ziggurat with some incredulity. I hadn’t intended to trespass on Karen Spencer’s territory, and overall I’d agree with her conclusion that the amendments made to the ABI form seem to have confused rather than clarified matters. I’d also agree with Roddy Cormack’s comment that more radical surgery is needed if the employer wishes to secure earlier payment following the contractor’s insolvency. But I did want to offer some thoughts on what the decision tells us about wider issues in the surety bonding market.’
Practical Law: Construction Blog, 17th January 2018
‘Phones 4u has dealt a blow to Britain’s biggest mobile operator from beyond the grave, winning a key battle in a long campaign by its administrators to extract £120m in unpaid commission from EE.’
Daily Telegraph, 17th January 2018
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Nearly 20 years after the Construction Act 1996 was introduced to stamp out bad payment practices, you would be forgiven for thinking there must be a voluminous pile of case law in relation to the all-important final account. But you would be disappointed. While there is plenty of guidance from the TCC on interim payments, the courts have not had much to say about final accounts, particularly post 2011. This is why Systems Pipework Ltd v Rotary Building Services Ltd is so welcome. Coulson J draws together the authorities on interim and final account payments and concludes (in a characteristically clear and to the point judgment) that the same rules apply to both.’
Practical Law: Construction Blog, 20th December 2017
‘One of the fears relating to adjudication is that a referring party will attempt to achieve success by grinding the responding party down through serial adjudications until it achieves the result it wants or the responding party gives in. In Benfield Construction Ltd v Trudson (Hatton) Ltd, Coulson J issued a clear warning that such an approach would not be condoned, stating.’
Practical Law: Construction Blog, 20th December 2017
‘Business contracts have become the language and form of commercial transactions. Their ubiquity is only surpassed by their functionality. They are useful for establishing one parties rights and obligations towards others as well as available remedies and dispute resolution mechanisms. Contracts can also confer powers upon a party to decide on issues that affect another party.’
4 KBW, 5th December 2017
Source: www.4kbw.net
Myths of Brexit (PDF)
Speech by Lord Justice Hamblen
Conference organised by the Hong Kong Department of Justice entitled: “Impact of Brexit on the Development of Common Law, Dispute Resolution and Judicial Co-operation in civil and commercial matters”, 2nd December 2017
Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk
‘Today [5 December] the Court of Appeal gave it’s eagerly awaited judgment in Budana v The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust [2017] EWCA Civ 1980. Overturning the decision of DJ Besford in the County Court at Kingston-Upon-Hull, the court ruled that a pre-LASPO CFA could validly be transferred from one firm of solicitors to another, even after 1 April 2013, in such a way as to preserve the right to recover success fees and ATE premiums, provided all three parties (client and both firms) expressly so agreed.’
4 New Square, 5th December 2017
Source: www.4newsquare.com
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