Legal terms explained: Negligence – the basics

Construction projects are set up using contracts and it is no surprise that the law of contract generally plays a bigger role than negligence. Nonetheless, the law of negligence has an important part to play, especially if there is no contract between the parties. It is therefore worth looking at the basic principles and issues that come up when looking at claims for negligence.

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News in brief: July 2011

Construction disputes are on the rise globally, according to a survey by EC Harris. Disputes take an average of nine months to resolve and are most often caused by poor administration.

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Schools body caned

A new wave of school building using the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) as the procurement route could be unleashed with news that Partnerships for Schools, the body responsible for the abortive Building Schools for the Future (BsF) programme, is to be abolished.

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OFT gives up on appeals

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has decided not to appeal against any of the judgements handed down by the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) relating to cover pricing by contractors, and will review its penalty policy for breaches of competition laws.

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Government procurement revolution

Details of what is being hailed as a revolution in government construction procurement strategy have been unveiled, aiming at a 20 per cent cut in costs by the end of this Parliament.

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Constructing a revolution

Bad news for lawyers if the revolution hailed as resulting from implementing the government’s Construction Strategy (see News) comes to pass. No bespoke contracts, it is promised, only standardised contracts to be used throughout the supply chain. Bang goes a lot of workload.

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Arbitration’s rescue from the Italian Torpedo

In the latest article in our series on alternative dispute resolution, Alexander Whyatt of Clyde & Co examines the risks arising when inserting arbitration clauses into international contracts.

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Long tail liability – a dilemma for insurers

Insurance expert John D Wright of JD Risk Associates argues that the insurance market will not move to a claims made basis from the currently popular occurrence basis any time soon. The long tail problem may force a change one day, however.

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Practical completion pitfalls

Practical completion can be tricky enough to reach agreement on, but Simon Colegate of Wragge & Co argues that parties can make it a lot more difficult for themselves than it need be. Inadequate drafting of the relevant clauses is a prime cause of problems.

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OFT fine setting powers curbed

Companies that appealed the Office of Fair Trading’s fines for cover pricing have seen their fines reduced by up to 90 per cent. Alan Davis of Pinsent Masons examines what this means for competition law compliance and enforcement.

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