All articles by Tony Blackler

  • Comment

    Novation: Wise precautions

    2008-09-19T00:00:00Z

    If you’re a contractor and you’re asked to accept the novation of a consultant, make sure it really is going to be joining you – and be careful which form you use

  • Tony Blackler
    Comment

    Reinwood vs Brown: Why their lordships were right

    2008-04-11T00:00:00Z

    The latest House of Lords decision to spell out the rights and wrongs of the Construction Act, and the JCT, was based on sound commercial logic

  • Comment

    Going legal

    2007-12-14T00:00:00Z

    As long as an adjudicator has considered the right question in a fair way, they’re free to make legal errors: the result will stand. But the legal issues are often complex and important: take global claims for example …

  • Tony Blackler
    Comment

    The boomerang effect

    2007-06-29T00:00:00Z

    This is a cautionary tale of a court doing its best to assist the parties to resolve their differences through mediation, and finding itself embroiled in a Court of Appeal case. Here’s what happened …

  • Tony Blackler
    Comment

    Time is on its side

    2006-04-13T00:00:00Z

    Many see the new NEC as a contract for dreamers with milk in their mouths; others consider it an improvement on other forms. Here's one reason to think the latter

  • Tony Blackler
    Comment

    Consumer power

    2005-03-18T00:00:00Z

    Adjudication gets a good press from the industry, so it comes as a surprise when a judge rules that it is unfair when used for disputes with consumers

  • Tony Blackler
    Comment

    Agreement on principles

    2004-10-01T00:00:00Z

    The first rule in law school is that an agreement to agree is not a contract. The second rule in law school should be that all rules have their exceptions

  • Comment

    Permanent fixes

    2004-05-14T00:00:00Z

    The Institution of Chemical Engineers has a model form that seems to eliminate disputes. So should any of it be adopted by the construction industry?

  • Comment

    How late is too late?

    2004-02-06T00:00:00Z

    Missing a deadline in a contract can have dire consequences, but you may not be surprised to learn that in construction some deadlines are stricter than others

  • Comment

    Let me stop you there

    2003-08-29T00:00:00Z

    A clause that gave both parties the right to terminate a contract was attacked by one side for being unfair. But the judge shot that one down soon enough

  • Comment

    All or nothing at all

    2003-02-28T00:00:00Z

    'Entire agreement' clauses confine the rights of parties to those in the contract. Sounds simple, but what happens when the parties agree to eleventh-hour additions?

  • Comment

    Mind the hidden extras

    2002-09-27T00:00:00Z

    The construction courts have reinterpreted two JCT contracts – which will land many design-and-build firms with more risk than they'd bargained for

  • Comment

    Putting an end to it all

    2002-09-06T00:00:00Z

    An employer who wishes to terminate a deal had better not take the contract too literally, as sometimes its most important rule is an unwritten one

  • Comment

    Same old precedent

    2002-07-05T00:00:00Z

    In the old adversarial world, sneaky contractual devices were part of the territory. But such things are soon to be relegated to the dustbin of history – aren't they?

  • Comment

    Smooth operator

    2002-02-22T00:00:00Z

    The SCL protocol on extensions of time isn't a contractual obligation, but used correctly it can keep a contract running on time and without disputes

  • Comment

    Delayed gratification

    2002-01-18T00:00:00Z

    Concurrent delays and extensions of time can be a tricky issue for everyone. So why are they dodged by standard forms when two changes would sort them out?

  • Features

    Check out the policy

    2000-11-03T00:00:00Z

    How can it be that a client ends up out of pocket when a subcontractor causes a fire on site? Someone wasn't paying close enough attention to the insurance clauses.

  • Features

    Whose loss is it anyway?

    2000-09-01T00:00:00Z

    A company that hasn t suffered direct loss from defective work can t sue for damages under the provisions of common law, according to the judgment in one of the longest disputes in construction history.

  • Features

    Through the labyrinth

    1999-12-10T00:00:00Z

    It is a common law rule that an arbitration clause in a contract is to be regarded as a contract within a contract – which may survive if the contract itself is terminated. Herein lies a mire into which many fall.

  • Features

    Welcome to year zero

    1999-08-20T00:00:00Z

    The Woolf reforms have ushered in a new era in construction law. What they have done, in effect, is legislate for virtue – and, as a couple of recent cases show, after a few fingers have been burned it might just work.