| 1 | Without prejudice rule: statement inadmissible even though ... The House of Lords has held that a statement made by a party in without prejudice correspondence was not admissible in subsequent proceedings even though the statement was not in dispute. | Legal update: archive | 24-Apr-2009 |
| 2 | Repudiatory breach: persistent late payments The Court of Appeal has held that persistent late payments under an agreement for services amounted to repudiatory breach that entitled the innocent party to treat the agreement as terminated. | Legal update: archive | 23-Jun-2008 |
| 3 | Contaminated land liability The Technology and Construction Court has considered the apportionment of risk in buying or selling contaminated land. | Legal update: archive | 25-Mar-2008 |
| 4 | Contracts: third party rights: business transfer agreement The Court of Appeal has held that the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 did not apply to allow a third party to enforce the terms of a business transfer agreement. | Legal update: archive | 26-Jan-2007 |
| 5 | Damages in respect of third party loss The High Court has held (obiter)that the restriction in the Albazero principle that a party cannot bring a claim through a third party where it has a substantial claim itself, relates only to a claim which can be brought on the same conditions as the original claim. | Legal update: archive | 24-Feb-2006 |
| 6 | Deed of warranty: retrospective effect The Court of Appeal has held that a claim under a deed of warranty was time-barred because it was clear the parties intended the deed to have retrospective effect. | Legal update: archive | 29-Sep-2003 |
| 7 | Valuers' negligence The High Court has held that where a property valuation is outside the permissible range of valuations and no explanation can be offered, this might be sufficient to establish negligence. | Legal update: archive | 28-Apr-2003 |
| 8 | Industrial disease: employers' liability The House of Lords has held that different employers were jointly and severally liable for industrial disease caused by a single agent where it was medically impossible to show which of several sources to which the claimants were exposed triggered the disease. | Legal update: archive | 29-Jul-2002 |
| 9 | Breach of building contract The House of Lords has confirmed that an employer under a building contract may only recover damages from the building contractor for breach of contract if the party actually suffering loss due to the breach is unable to claim compensation. | Legal update: archive | 02-Oct-2000 |
| 10 | Limitation of liability The High Court has decided that where a contract provides a clause limiting the defendant's liability for any breach of contract to a certain sum, the plaintiff cannot try to increase that sum by claiming on a separate legal ground. | Legal update: archive | 01-Dec-1998 |
| 11 | Assignment of rights to sue for building defects An assignment of rights under a JCT building contract in breach of an express prohibition against assignment is ineffective. However, the original employer may be entitled to recover substantial damages for breach even where the loss is suffered by a subsequent owner of the defective building. | Legal update: archive | 01-Sep-1993 |