Pupil Anson Cheung awarded SCL Hudson Prize 2019

Atkin Chambers is pleased to announce that pupil barrister Anson Cheung has been awarded joint first prize in the Society of Construction Law Hudson Prize 2019 for her essay entitled ‘Triple Point Technologies – pointing to confusion’.

The paper first summarises the previous approaches of the courts in similar claims for liquidated damages in abandonment, and surveys the approach adopted in Triple Point Technologies. It goes on to criticise the court’s decision to disapply the liquidated damages clause for three reasons:

• the decision the Court of Appeal relied on as authoritative did not truly decide the point at common law and should have been distinguished.
• the disapplication of the liquidated damages clause departs from the accepted understanding of accrued rights in the context of termination; and lastly,
• that the practical significance of Triple Point Technologies creates an anomaly that incentivises breach of contract and undermines the bargain between the parties.

The paper proposes that Triple Point Technologies ought to have taken what this paper terms “the Orthodox approach”, and suggests the arguments available in reforming the law as it stands.

Copies of the paper will be made available to purchase on the SCL website.

The Hudson Prize is awarded for the best essay on a construction law topic by The Society of Construction Law in the UK.  The SCL was founded in 1983 and comprises over 2000 members from all sections of the construction industry and associated legal practices.  Its mission is to promote and encourage the study of construction law and the exchange of information and ideas concerning it. This is done in a number of ways, including the giving of papers by invited speakers at meetings, publishing papers and supporting educational activities in the construction law field in universities and colleges.