The appellant sought an interim payment for works of construction undertaken for the respondents under a JCT contract. The respondents contended that, having terminated the contract on their receivership, the contract and Act meant that the interim payment was no longer payable.
Held: (Neuberger and Mance dissenting) The appeal was allowed. Lord Hoffmann: Parliament had not intended that a payment once due should cease to be so due because of the insoilvency of the contractor. Section 111(1) should be construed as not applying to a lawful ground for withholding payment of which it was in the nature of things not possible for notice to have been given within the statutory time frame.
Judges:
Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, Lord Mance, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury
Citations:
Times 08-May-2007, [2007] UKHL 18, [2007] 1 WLR 1136, [2007] 3 All ER 889
Links:
Statutes:
Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 111
Jurisdiction:
Scotland
Citing:
Appeal from – Melville Dundas Ltd v Hotel Corporation of Edinburgh Ltd IHCS 7-Sep-2006
If a contractor became insolvent, Parliament ‘has provided quite clearly that . . the losses should be borne by the . . employers under the contract.’ . .
Cited – Bouygues (Uk) Ltd v Dahl-Jensen (Uk) Ltd (In Liquidation) CA 17-Aug-2000
When the decision of an adjudicator was challenged, the court should ask whether the adjudicator had either asked the right question but in the wrong way, or whether he had even answered the wrong question. The procedure was intended to provide a . .
See Also – The University Court of The University of Glasgow v Melville Dundas Limited E.M. Mackenzie and Co Limited L.C.H. Generators Limited OHCS 23-Apr-2004
. .
See Also – Melville Dundas Limited (In Receivership) and the Joint Receivers Thereof v George Wimpey UK Limited Norwich Union Insurance Limited OHCS 15-Dec-2005
. .
Cited – Highland Engineering Ltd v Thomson 1972
The liquidation of a company is treated as the equivalent as bankruptcy to prevent the hardship of a debtor who is also a creditor being forced to pay in full, when he will come in only as a creditor for a dividend for his debt as a result of . .
Cited – C and B Scene Concept Design Ltd v Isobars Ltd CA 31-Jan-2002
The claimant appealed a refusal of summary judgement, in a claim to enforce an arbitration award. Where an award was challenged, enforcement should still be allowed to continue unless the challenge went as to the jurisdiction of the reference. . .
Cited – Modern Engineering (Bristol) Ltd v Gilbert Ash (Northern) Ltd HL 1974
The court considered how to construe a clause in a contract which excluded a remedy provided by law. Lord Diplock said: ‘It is, of course, open to parties to a contract . . to exclude by express agreement a remedy for its breach which would . .
Cited by:
Cited – Reinwood Ltd v L Brown and Sons Ltd HL 20-Feb-2008
The employer received a notice of non-completion from his architect, and in turn served a notice on the contractor under section 111, and deducted damages for non-completion from the next payment. The contractor said this was not allowed because the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Construction, Contract, Insolvency
Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.251484