All articles by Tony Bingham 鈥� Page 11
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CommentA house up a well-known creek
If your home played host to the contents of your neighbours鈥� toilets 17 times in eight years, you might expect the law to offer you some redress. Remarkably, as one London householder found out, it does nothing of the sort
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CommentKiss and tell
The only people who love contracts are lawyers. For everybody else 鈥� the plasterers, the foremen, the managers 鈥� they鈥檙e just long, fuzzy words that bear no relationship to how they do their work. 鈥楰eep it short and simple鈥� should be the first rule of a legislator
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CommentHappy ever after
Main contractors and subcontractors make all kinds of rash promises during the courting stage. Then they quarrel. A new toolkit from the National Specialist Contractors Council aims to keep things sweet to the end
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CommentDo you have breakdown cover?
Rolls-Royce didn鈥檛 take out joint-names insurance to cover construction of its new plant. When a leaking pipe caused 拢400,000 of damage, it insisted the policy wouldn鈥檛 have covered negligence. Not everyone agreed
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NewsBitten by a tiddler
A run in with BT reminds 黑洞社区's legal blogger why people go to court to resolve even the teeniest of disputes
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CommentThank you, m鈥檒ud
Judge Coulson ruled recently that a court can pause a case and direct the parties to adjudicate their differences away. Which, apart from anything else, is a real vote of confidence in adjudication 鈥�
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CommentMind your language, minister
The government鈥檚 latest attempts at spelling out the Construction Act鈥檚 payment rules are a triumph of impenetrable gobbledegook. It鈥檚 time for some plain English
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CommentAn exemplary disaster
Fail to renew your public liability insurance at your peril, as this dreadful tale of a family-run electrical firm, a little old lady鈥檚 bungalow and some (possibly) poorly rigged festoon cabling proves
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CommentYou bought it, you pay for it
Question: When does a main contractor have to pay a subcontractor for work that it hasn鈥檛 done? Answer: When it agreed a fixed-price lump sum contract based on issued drawings 鈥�
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CommentNo more boobs
As the Chinese say, a man who makes a mistake and does not correct it makes another mistake. This should be born in mind by the DTI in its present review of the Construction Act
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CommentGuaranteed trouble
Here鈥檚 an everyday story of a new home, its disgruntled owners, their worried insurer, its unhappy builder and a legal case that didn鈥檛 go the way it was supposed to
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CommentNothing if not critical
The epic struggle between Mirant and Arup over the Sual power station has finally ended in a complete victory for Arup. The battle turned on the what delays were and weren鈥檛 on the critical path
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NewsReading the small print
Entry to heaven should not have to depend on clear mobile phones and strong thumbs
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CommentLet the supplier beware
You may have taken every precaution to make sure a contract is watertight but a consumer can claim a term isn鈥檛 fair if it puts them at a significant disadvantage
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CommentCircumstances change cases
The case of Dundas vs Wimpey, which has now been resolved in favour of Wimpey after a 3:2 decision in the House of Lords, shows that the payment clauses in the Construction Act are not set in stone
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CommentHell is a very small place
This is the story of a common-or-garden domestic extension that took years to complete and resulted in a savage battle between the architect and the client that ended up in the High Court
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CommentHere鈥檚 to Tony
Our legal eagles offer up their judicious verdicts on the Blair era, with the other TB, Tony Bingham, finding himself surprisingly misty eyed at the departure of a Labour PM
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CommentYes, folks, it鈥檚 the fab follies
A client bent on scuppering an adjudication can whistle up all sorts of loony tunes 鈥� including favourites such as 鈥楾here Ain鈥檛 No Contract in Writing鈥�, 鈥楪it that Adjudicator Outta Here鈥� and 鈥楬ere Come the Judge鈥�. Altogether now鈥�
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CommentThe percentage game
Remember Ian McGlinn? He was last seen in the High Court suing everyone in sight after ordering the demolition of his Jersey dream home. Here he is again, still in court, trying to get the other parties to pay his legal costs
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NewsA passing phase
The industry is safe in the hands of the new generation of construction professionals says 黑洞社区's star blogger