This month’s Ask the team considers what statutory rights, if any, a supplier (be that a professional consultant, a building contractor, sub-contractor or materials supplier) may have to improve their cashflow, if they agreed a long payment cycle that they now regret. Continue reading
I’m sure most people are familiar with the concept of temporary finality. Coulson J describes it as “the essence of the adjudication process”. He goes on to explain that it is one of the principal reasons why the courts endeavour to enforce adjudicators’ decisions, provided they have answered the right question (paragraph 3.100, Coulson on Construction Adjudication).
For those of you that haven’t read it yet, I would urge you to read the judgment in Westfields Construction Ltd v Clive Lewis. It was an application to enforce an adjudicator’s decision, and I assure you that the rest of Coulson J’s judgment lives up to the teaser in the opening paragraph:
“Although the sum claimed is just £17,393.91 plus interest, the application has been hotly contested. There are seven witness statements, including four from the defendant alone. In addition, and unique in my experience, the parties were permitted… to call oral evidence.” Continue reading
While lawyers were all brought up on the principle of “freedom to contract”, there appears to be a growing trend that the courts are prepared to take a more restrictive approach when it comes to construing the scope of an exclusion clause. The latest example of this can be found in the Court of Appeal’s judgment in Kudos Catering (UK) Ltd v Manchester Central Convention Complex Ltd.
What a brilliant hymn this is (and I’m not even Welsh…). Even if you haven’t stepped inside a church for some time, you can’t have missed its inclusion in the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton and the opening ceremony for last year’s London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
We could all do with some guidance at times, especially in the often uncertain world of adjudication. So who are our “great redeemers” when it comes to adjudication guidance? Continue reading
The Chinese year of the snake has just started. Hello to the year of the snake, goodbye to the year of the dragon. This got us thinking: perhaps it’s time to slay a construction law dragon.
There’s a common saying among lawyers and commentators that NEC contracts are rarely before the courts. We’re not sure that’s really true any more. Here’s a summary of our case:
John Steinbeck:
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
These words may seem apt this month, with its cold grey days. Snowdrops have appeared, which is a sure sign spring is on its way. While we wait for longer, warmer days, we also await the “big bang” of the Jackson reforms (on 1 April 2013). Continue reading
The most obvious consequences of Lord Dyson’s judgment in PC Harrington v Systech (non-payment of adjudicators for non-enforceable decisions where there has been a breach of the rules of natural justice) have been written about and discussed at length over the three months since the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment.
However, one topic that has not featured (as far as I’m aware), is the idea that the judgment may, in some way, impact on an adjudicator’s behaviour. For those of you wondering what an earth I am talking about, let me explain. Continue reading
Everyone involved in adjudication proceeds on the understanding that an earlier adjudicator’s decision binds a subsequent adjudicator. However, I wonder how often people look to see where that principle comes from.
It was an issue before Akenhead J in Arcadis v May and Baker recently. Continue reading
This month’s Ask the team considers what a development management agreement (or development project management agreement) is and whether it is caught by the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (Construction Act 1996). Continue reading
