"I unhesitatingly prefer the submissions of counsel for the claimant to those of counsel for the defendant," said the learned High Court judge in the case of Bryan Langley Ltd vs Martin Rodney Boston. Well now, there's a man who's pretty certain about life in that court that day. He gave short shrift to the defendant's case. Tail between legs, you would have thought. Amen, you might have said. But no, the defendant was not cowed into silence. He went to three judges in the Court of Appeal. They unhesitatingly reversed the result. Bryan ft Langley is an adjudication case; I first told you about it on 10 December last year. One of the points was whether the parties had agreed a contract containing the JCT98 standard form. Mr Boston was spending pound;500,000 on his posh home in Cavendish Street, London W1. The main contractor, Bryan Langley, complained of an underpayment. An adjudicator decided the dispute but Mr Boston argued that JCT98 was not included in the contract and thus no adjudication could apply, since he was a mere consumer. The first instant judge agreed.
展开▼
