Legal Comment – Page 104
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CommentDrop the dead duck
A collapsed roof at a superstore started a chain of events that demonstrates the foolishness of risking indemnity costs when a claim looks certain to fail
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CommentBehind the veil
This is a murky tale of one man, three companies and a lot of fly-tipping. It also illustrates how the courts will look at who truly controls a company …
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CommentSuit yourself
The JCT has embraced the digital age with a service promising quick, clean documents that are precisely tailored to the job they cover
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CommentCold comfort
This week’s energy special continues in the legal pages, and to kick us off we have a severe weather warning from Building’s answer to Michael Fish
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CommentConsider the evidence
After an accident such as Hatfield, prosecutors come under pressure to launch a case. But too often they go ahead without having a leg to stand on
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Handled with care
A new accreditation scheme is offering training and indemnity insurance to construction professionals taking on the vital role of asbestos inspectors
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On being naughty
Is this a cautionary tale of an innocent subcontractor hounded by the big bad tax man? Or was its ‘minor and technical’ infraction actually something more?
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Cut to the quick
Continuing from last week: you may not have time to examine every line in a contract, so here are key clauses you need to spot and the potential traps to avoid
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CommentStory time is over
It’s time to stop the lying in adjudication and arbitration. Let’s attach a ‘statement of truth’ to referral or response papers, and make clients and lawyers sign it
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Before you sign …
Ideally lawyers will go through a contract with a fine-tooth comb, but if you only have a couple of hours to check it yourself, here are the key points to watch for
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Smile, you’re on camera
Delay and disruption disputes are horrendously complicated, but there is a practical way to back up your claim – take regular photographs of the works from day one
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CommentBattle tactics
For subcontractors the day when crippling paid-if-paid clauses are outlawed cannot come too soon, but in the meantime here’s how to launch an effective counter-attack
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CommentA family affair
The man who defrauded the Millennium Dome of £4m has just been sent down, but suspicions were first aroused in a little-known adjudication case back in 2001
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CommentWar of the words
A letter of intent is meant to be a stop-gap before the contract kicks in, but all too often it sparks a dispute – in this case over the words ‘loss and expense’
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A tragedy, not a crime
The Hatfield defendants were innocent, and would have been under a reformed law. If you want a villain in this piece, look at past and present governments
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Spoilt for choice
At last we have a contract that caters for third-party rights, but this extra option in the new JCT design-and-build contract could pose a problem
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CommentA happy compromise
A trial before a judge or arbitrator is one thing; negotiations facilitated by a mediator is a horse of a different colour. So what would happen if we crossed them?
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CommentAll too human
Arbitrators, adjudicators, even judges, all have unconscious bias. You can’t change that – but you can make sure that you don’t help them to direct it against you
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How to haggle
At last, premiums for professional indemnity insurance have started to fall, so now is the time to find a broker and shop around for a better deal
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CommentOffensive manoeuvres
A decision reached by an adjudicator can be overturned in court, one reached by an arbitrator cannot – unless the claimant establishes that he is incompetent