All articles by Tony Bingham – Page 15
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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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Comment
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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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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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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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
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CommentA wardance
The ordinary way that contracts are entered into provides a natural breeding ground for disputes, as vividly demonstrated by this recent Appeal Court case
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CommentIt’s … Robo-adjudicator!
Dispute resolution is no job for have-a-go amateurs. So five chartered bodies have teamed up to turn adjudicators into contract law enforcement machines
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CommentFractal law
As with the coastline of England or the Mandlebrot Set, the closer you look at standard forms of contract, the more complexity you find. Take this example …
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CommentA six-year stretch
By the time that Henry Boot vs Alstom reached the Court of Appeal, £60m was hanging on the definition of when the clock starts ticking on the six-year rule …
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CommentGo ask Alice
How can you miss a deadline if you’re a day early? Very easily, if you’re in the Wonderland world of the law, where words mean just what the contract says they do
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CommentWhose side are you on?
It’s taken 20 years to decide whether the project manager under the NEC contract has a duty to be unbiased. Now, thanks to Mr Justice Jackson, we know
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CommentAsking for it
If you lose an adjudication to an opponent in poor financial health, can you decline to pay up? Happily, the courts have just laid down clear rules on this
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CommentWriggle room
A developer tried three arguments to get round an adjudicator’s order to pay its contractor £170k. This is what the court said about them
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CommentThe big squeeze
When the Bechtel boss told his people to do everything they could to disallow contractors’ costs, the contractors went to court. But was this the right move?
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CommentIdeal for multiple injuries
It’s hard to introduce a new defence in the middle of a trial, but in adjudication – being a quick first-aid for two parties in a punch-up – it’s the very opposite
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CommentThe Dickens of a case
Mr Bumble had a point when he said the ‘law is a ass’ – as was borne out recently by a High Court battle that could have been settled with a phone call
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CommentBang out of order
When a dodgy builder was jailed for fleecing customers, he got an ASBO into the bargain. What the dastardly felon also got was a dose of rough justice
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CommentToo much to ask for?
Be warned: there’s an extremely architect-friendly clause hidden in RIBA SFA/99. So friendly, and so hidden, that it has been ruled ‘unusual and onerous’