Build Magazine December 2015

Build Magazine 31 Regulation Alternatively, other ways of limiting liability, which could have assisted the contractor in the Bloomberg case, remain including the following: Capped Liability In the absence of a limitation clause, there is no financial limit on the damages that a party can re- cover. There are practical and legal limits under the general law of damages but beyond these no limits are normally implied. A party wishing to reduce its exposure needs an express limitation of liability. The amount of the cap can be expressed as a percentage of the fee, by reference to the consultant’s professional indemnity (PI) insurance or a fixed amount. The Technology and Construction Court (TCC) has considered whether a profes- sional consultant’s cap on liability was enforceable in Ampleforth Abbey Trust v Turner & Townsend Project Management Ltd [2012] EWHC 2137, in which it was decided that: