In Lucas Earthmovers Pty Limited v Anglogold Ashanti Australia Limited [2019] FCA 1049, the Federal Court of Australia considered several issues that typically arise in large-scale resources projects. In so doing, it reinforced the sanctity of the agreed bargain between the parties and highlighted the inherent difficulties in proving the oft-claimed, but rarely successful, misleading … Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills’ Tokyo office has written an article on the recent case of Network Rail Infrastructure Limited v ABC Electrification [2019] EWHC 1769 (TCC) in which the English Courts adopted the natural meaning of ‘default’ in the definition of ‘Disallowed Costs’ in a contract modelled on the ICE Conditions of Contract, Target Cost version. Read more

This blog may be rather late in the day. Perhaps that’s appropriate, as it touches on the consequences of delay. Also, I’m happy to admit that the Court of Appeal’s decision in Triple Point Technology, Inc v PTT Public Company Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 230 has already rightly received much comment from others. So one … Read more

Over the last 12 months, there have been a number of notable cases with significant implications for construction law and practice. As well as several adjudication cases, such as the widely discussed Grove Developments, which untangled the conflicting authorities around true value adjudications, there were a number of cases that considered fundamental issues of contract … Read more

The decision in (1) GPP Big Field LLP and (2) GPP Langstone LLP v Solar EPC Solutions SL (formerly known as Prosolia Siglio XXI) [2018] EWHC 2866 (Comm) has applied the Supreme Court’s recast penalties test from Makdessi1. The decision is one of the few construction cases that have applied Makdessi in determining whether liquidated … Read more

The Court of Appeal judgment in North Midland Building Limited v Cyden Homes Limited [2018] EWCA Civ 1744, which was handed down last week, firmly upholds the first instance decision (on which we provided a Legal Briefing in 2017); and confirms that the prevention principle is not an overriding rule of public or legal policy, … Read more

On 10 February 2017, the Court of Appeal released its decision in the case of Carillion Construction Limited v Emcor Engineering Services Limited and Anor [2017] EWCA Civ 65. This case concerns the situation in which a Relevant Event (a delay event) occurs after the contractual completion date. The Court of Appeal confirmed the Technology … Read more

In SSE Generation Limited v Hochtief Solutions AG and another decided on 21st December 2016, the Court of Session in Scotland considered a contractor’s potential design liability under the NEC Form of Contract. It concluded that the contractor was not obliged to guarantee the performance of the works where Option M (X15) was adopted so … Read more