Penalty Clauses & Liquidated Damages: The UK Supreme Court considers over 100 years of law and provides useful guidance in determining what is a Penalty Clause
Charles Edwin Edwards MSt(Cantab) MSc(Lond) FCInstCES Barrister “…The essence of a penalty is a payment of money stipulated as in terrorem of the offending party; the essence of liquidated damages is a genuine covenanted pre-estimate of damage…” Lord Dunedin at page 86 in Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage & Motor Co Ltd […]
NEC3 Conditions of Contract (as amended): How many potholes constitute a Compensation Event? – Adjudication, Arbitration and then the High Court (TCC)
Charles Edwin Edwards MSt(Cantab) MSc(Lond) FCInstCES Barrister (Head of Chambers, Gray’s Inn Construction Chambers) “…Socrates to Hermogenes: ‘Well, now, let me take an instance; suppose that I call a man a horse or a horse a man, you mean to say that a man will be rightly called a horse by me individually, and rightly […]
Non-Payment in Construction Contracts and Winding-Up Petitions: Guidance from the High Court (Chancery Division)
Charles Edwin Edwards MSt(Cantab) MSc(Lond) FCInstCES Barrister Charles Edwards, construction barrister and head of chambers at Gray’s Inn Construction Chambers, reviews the case of Breyer Group Plc v RBK Engineering Limited [2017] EWHC 1206 (Ch). This case will be of interest to the construction industry as more and more companies within the industry consider whether […]
JCT Building Contract – Defects – What is an appropriate deduction and how should it be calculated
Charles Edwards MSt(Cantab) MSc(Lond) FCInstCES Barrister (Head of Chambers, Gray’s Inn Construction Chambers) “…The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten…” Benjamin Franklin JCT BUILDING CONTRACT – DEFECTS: WHAT IS AN ‘APPROPRIATE DEDUCTION’ AND HOW SHOULD IT BE CALCULATED? GUIDANCE FROM THE HIGH COURT (TCC) Charles Edwards, construction barrister […]