Law Report Derek Jerram
Adjudication
There follows a list of further cases since our last issue. The list might not be complete.
Northern Developments (Cumbria) Ltd -v- J & J Nichol
VHE Construction plc -v- RBSTB Trust Co Ltd
Grovedeck Ltd -v- Capital Demolition Ltd
F W Cook Ltd -v- Shimizu (UK) Ltd
Workplace Technologies plc -v- E Squared Ltd and Mr J L Riches
Morrison Construction Ltd -v-Imreglio UK Ltd
Experts Again
In the Court of Appeal, Lord Woolf said that if an expert was properly qualified to give evidence, the fact that he 7was employed by a Local Authority would not disqualify him from giving evidence on the Authority's behalf.
The claimant was the tenant of one of the Council's properties and brought proceedings for disrepair, claiming specific performance of work allegedly not carried out and damages for personal injury suffered as a consequence of the premises being out of repair.
Field -v- Leeds City Council, CA The Times, 16 December 1999.
Impartiality
In a case in which the Arbitrator's impartiality was questioned, the Court applied the tests formulated by Lord Goff in R -v- Gough (1993) and decided that there was no bias. Of greater importance, the Court made the point that an Arbitrator appointed by an Appointing Authority is not entitled to insist upon the parties entering into the Arbitrator's own form of agreement. There is authority that the Arbitrator may tender fee notes from time to time and expect them to be paid. This is applied under the old Act and would, therefore, apply under the 1996 Act.
Brian Andrews -v- John H Bradshaw and H Randell & Son Ltd, CA 1999
Interest on Costs
Interest on costs accrue from the date of establishment of a party's liability for those costs, not from the date of their quantification.
Nicholas Hare -v- Broadway Developments Ltd, QBD 1998, CILL p1348
Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations
The 1994 Regulations have been replaced by the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, with effect from 1 October 1999. All Arbitrators who deal with consumer disputes should know about this. There is, incidentally, a curious typographical error in the 1994 Regulations which need no longer to concern us.
Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999
This act is now law, conferring on third parties rights to enforce contractual terms if the contract expressly provides that he may, or if it purports to confer a benefit to him.
Contribution
The Court of Appeal has held that an Arbitrator has jurisdiction under the Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978 to decide questions of contribution between parties to an arbitration, even where the main action establishing primary liability takes place in Court proceedings.
Christine Wealands -v- CLC Contractors, CA 1999
Derek Jerram