CONTRA MOVEMENT

摘要

Two decisions of the Court of Appeal in the last month seem to have put the contra proferentem rule firmly back in its exceedingly small box (Transocean Drilling UK vs Providence Resources Plc on 13 April 2016 and Nobahar-Cookson and Ors vs The Hut Group Ltd on 22 March 2016). Neither concerned a construction contract but both looked at general principles of contract interpretation. The appeal decision in Transocean vs Providence had been eagerly awaited. The original decision was trailed in Building ("Teetering on the breach", 19 February 2016, page 40). One of the issues was how far a consequential loss exclusion in a rig hire contract extended. Interpretation of an exclusion clause was recently looked at in the Persimmon vs Arup case ("Clarity begins at home", 4 March 2016, page 42).