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Our lawyers contribute regularly to industry and legal journals in addition to writing legal briefings, newsletters and case reports for clients and contacts. All of our articles are free to read and download here.
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reports from the courts
October 2022Our regular round-up of the court decisions of most interest to construction comes from Andrew Croft and Ben Spannuth examine a case that demonstrates the courts’ reluctance to find that liquidated damages provisions are unenforceable for reasons of uncertainty where an alternative interpretation can be found; and a Court of Appeal ruling that provides clarification… Read More >
High Court issues further guidance on aggregation and government support in relation to COVID business interruption claims
October 2022On 17 October 2022, the High Court ruled in Stonegate Pub Co. Ltd. V MS Amlin Corporate Member Ltd and others, Greggs PLC v Zurich Insurance PLC, and Various Eateries Trading Ltd. V Allianz Insurance PLC that insurers can deduct the value of COVID furlough support given to a policyholder from their business interruption claims.… Read More >
Interserve fined £4.4million for breaches of data protection law
October 2022The Information Commissioner’s Office has fined Interserve Group Ltd £4.4million for breaches of data protection law which led to the loss of significant amounts of employee personal information. Between March and May 2020, hackers were able to access, and encrypt, personal data of up to 113,000 of Interserve’s current and former employees (including contact details,… Read More >
Water companies face new civil penalties of up to £250 million for water pollution
October 2022October 2022 In recent months, water companies have constantly been in the news as a result of several high-profile water pollution events. The recent Environment Agency’s pollution report announced that we have seen a steady increase in pollution events with many of them being significant. Since 2013 we have seen criminal prosecutions against water companies… Read More >
RICS proposes guidance note on multi-storey residential valuations
October 2022On 3 October 2022, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) published a draft guidance note on the valuation of properties in multi-storey residential buildings with cladding. The draft guidance is open for public consultation until 31 October 2022. Background It has been recently reported that there are still 10,000 properties which require remediation works… Read More >
“You cannot be serious?”: Claiming compensation for breaches of the public procurement rules
October 2022Introduction When faced with an adverse decision in a procurement process, suppliers often face the difficult decision of whether or not to challenge. The factors they take into account include the prospects of success in showing there has been a breach and then being given a meaningful remedy to compensate that breach. Two recent important… Read More >
UK Government to drop Net Zero Strategy appeal
October 2022In July 2022, the High Court ruled that the UK government’s Net Zero Strategy (“NZS”) breached its obligations under the Climate Change Act 2008 (“CCA”). This case saw environmental groups, ClientEarth and Friends of the Earth UK, the Good Law Project (a non-profit organisation) and the environmental campaigner, Jo Wheatley successfully argue that the government’s… Read More >
Global Vantage: The Law Commission’s Review of the Arbitration Act 1996 – Should the Act be reformed?
October 2022In our Global Vantage article in February, we reported that the Law Commission had announced that it would be conducting a review of the Arbitration Act 1996. The Law Commission has now published its consultation paper on its review, which provides its provisional law reform proposals to amend and update the Act. This article highlights… Read More >
ARCHITECTS’ ROUNDTABLE – SEPTEMBER 2022
October 2022On 28 September, Beale & Co were delighted to host its latest Architects’ Roundtable for leading architectural practices. The roundtable provided an opportunity for architects to share their experience on the key issues, some new and some prevailing, that are affecting the industry and to discuss the challenges of today and the future. The roundtable… Read More >
Global Vantage: Function over form, an arbitration appointment tale
October 2022In ARI v WXJ [2022] EWHC 1543 (Comm), the High Court was asked to consider whether an arbitrator had been validly appointed, in the absence of concluded contract regarding their appointment. The Court took a commercial approach, finding that where: there had been a clear and unconditional communication of acceptance of the appointment by the… Read More >