Opinion – Page 635
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The claimant strikes back
A judge may not like it when a party fails to comply with a court order, but they should think twice before striking out the claim altogether
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An offer you can't refuse
Is mediation now mandatory? Well, parties that refuse an offer to mediate without good reason may find they lose out on costs even when they they win the case
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Poor Superman
Referees are supposed to be the superheroes in construction disputes. Now they're just as likely to be cast as persecutor – before turning into victim
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Suit yourself
You don't have to go bespoke to get a contract that suits. A nip here, a cut-and-paste clause there, can keep everyone happy. Just be careful with the scissors
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Built on sand?
Poor housebuilders. For nearly a decade, they've given the City what they thought it always wanted – year-on-year growth in profits and, latterly, double-digit margins. The response from the Square Mile? Utter indifference. The sector is rated at less than half the stock exchange average. Even contractors, with their 2%-if-you're-lucky ...
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IT is not the answer
We all know IT will mobilise construction, giving everyone a faster, better service – and we are all wrong. In fact, like any tool, it's only as good as those who use it
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Events, dear boy, events
Life has a way of blowing a hole in a construction programme, but if a draft delay protocol is adopted, contractors will need to get it right from the start.
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Within reasons
If an adjudicator's decision is made up of several conclusions, do those all count as binding decisions as well, or are they reasons? It's a pretty thorny question
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Can adjudicators add interest?
According to John Redmond, an adjudicator cannot add interest to a debt unless the contract specifically allows them to. But there's a counter argument to be put …
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Labour's philosophical fog
So, health minister John Hutton has suddenly realised what construction knew months ago: it is already too late to deliver his new hospitals before the next election. His offer to subsidise bids, truncate tender lists and hire more Whitehall project managers has, therefore, the hallmarks of political panic (pages 28-29). ...
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A question of … timing
If you owe me money, and I owe you money, does it make sense to just pay the difference? Let's see how two barristers and a judge sort out this tricky problem …
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Stuck to your guns?
After you start an adjudication, can you introduce new arguments or fresh evidence? A recent decision suggests not, but clarification is needed urgently
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The loves of Lady Justice
The goddess of justice had a soft spot for consultants, and tended to take their side in tort cases. Now it seems she's found a significant other …
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Indecent proposals
This is a story about a householder who agreed to pay a dodgy builder cash, then tried to kick him in his assets when things went wrong. What did the judge say?
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Houses, not circuses
If 1.7 million homes are 'not decent', that means that something like the entire population of London is living in squalor. What on earth can we do?
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Blind man's bluff
The government's response to Britain's chronic housing shortage isn't so much bad as nonexistent. Falconer is just pretending nothing is wrong