Defending a tort claim—general considerations In reality, many claims are ‘defended’ on the basis that the defendant either did not owe the claimant a duty, there was no breach of duty or there was a break in the chain of causation. In each of those cases, the claimant has failed to establish that the defendant is prima facie liable. For guidance on establishing liability for the tort of negligence, see Practice Notes: • Negligence—key elements to establish a negligence claim • Negligence—when does a duty of care arise? • Negligence—establishing a duty of care—specific scenarios • Negligence—when is the duty of care breached? This Practice Note considers the defences which may exculpate a defendant from liability where liability has prima facie been established. Limitation defences in tort claims Even where there has been a duty which has been breached, the claimant may still face the prospect of their claim being resisted or struck out if the defence can establish that the claim is time-barred. For further guidance, see Practice Notes: • Limitation—tort claims • Limitation—professional negligence

This Q&A is limited to the law in England under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), SI 2015/102. In answering this question, it is necessary to remember the important distinction under the public procurement directives and PCR 2015, SI 2015/102 between exclusion criteria, selection criteria and award criteria. When an authority is considering bids, a first step will be to apply the statutory exclusion criteria. Some of these criteria are mandatory while others are discretionary, which means that it is for national law and/or contracting authorities to determine the extent to which they apply in particular exercises. After the exclusion criteria are applied, the selection criteria will be applied to short-list tenderers for consideration. Finally, the successful bidder will be selected by applying the award criteria. Human rights considerations

Commercial analysis: Faced with a complex contract where from the language it was apparent that there was some error in the drafting of the contractual terms, the court was able to look to worked examples for guidance as to the contract’s true meaning and the intention of the parties.

This Practice Note examines agreements entered into under sections 38 and 278 of the Highways Act 1980, considering the obligations they impose and, in particular, the contractor’s position in relation to them. The provision of new roads and footpaths (collectively referred to as ‘highways’ in this Practice Note) is a common feature of many developments. Likewise, many developments require changes or improvements to be made to existing roads and footpaths. Indeed, in some cases, it may be a condition of a planning permission that new highways are built or changes to existing highways infrastructure are made. See Practice Note: Planning conditions—key points. Typically, the developer will intend that, once such works are completed, such new and/or altered highways will be adopted and maintained by the local highway authority (LHA). As a result, agreements under the Highways Act 1980—particularly, in this context, Highways Act 1980, ss 38 and 278—are commonly entered into between the LHA and the developer in order to ensure delivery of the necessary or agreed highways works to the required

Law360: An author whose contract was cancelled after she expressed anti-transgender views online cannot revive her discrimination case against her publisher, as an appeals court dismissed her appeal that she was an 'employee' for the purposes of section 83(2)(a) of the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010).

The Insolvency Service is set to assume responsibility for viable COVID-19 bounce back loan fraud investigations from the National Investigation Service (NATIS), following the Department for Business and Trade’s (DBT)'s decision to end its NATIS contract. The transfer comes after a review showed NATIS secured only 14 convictions despite £38.5m in costs.

We refer you to Practice Note: SRA Standards and Regulations—in-house lawyers, which confirms: ‘The Code for Solicitors prohibits any solicitor from personally holding client money unless they work in a regulated law firm, or in an organisation of a kind prescribed by the SRA, or, with certain restrictions, if they

The demand for public infrastructure at a time when public purse strings are tight, coupled with a lack of public sector expertise in delivering complex facilities (such as water treatment plants and energy plants), has led to an increase in the involvement of the private sector in the procurement and operation of public infrastructure. There are a wide range of possible arrangements for involving public sector risk and expertise in the procurement of public infrastructure. One of these arrangements is Design Build Operate (DBO). It is particularly popular for water treatment plants. For information on variations of the DBO structure, see Practice Notes: Infrastructure projects—project structure and BOT contracts. DBO involves a government (often in the form of a government body or local authority) engaging a single contractor to: • design and build the infrastructure facility • operate the facility for a period (typically between 10–30 years) The government typically finances the infrastructure project, either through tax revenues, grants (eg from international development funds) or debt finance, and pays the contractor for developing and operating the facility.

A notice of acceptance under section 6 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (LTA 1987) is not registrable at HM Land Registry. LTA 1987, s 20(2) states that any reference to an offer is reference to an offer made subject to contract, and any reference to the acceptance of an offer is a

Unfortunately, we do not have a single document comprising modern slavery, data protection, anti-bribery and sanctions, however, we refer you to the following Precedents which may be of interest: • Modern slavery—contract clauses • Modern slavery—supplier questionnaire • Information and cybersecurity—supplier questionnaire • Anti-bribery clause • Financial crime prevention compliance—due diligence questionnaire for agent/intermediary Also see: • for a broadly

The date at which building works under a contract are complete to such an extent to allow the main purpose of the contract to be commenced

We refer you to the following which may be of assistance: • Q&A: Is Brexit considered a force majeure event? • Practice Note: Brexit—contract risk management [Archived] and in particular the content under the headings ‘Delay events and excusing clauses’ and ‘Force majeure’ • the