Citation: [2023] EWHC 1682 (TCC)
Tom Owen appeared for the Defendant in successfully resisting an urgent interim injunction, and in obtaining costs on the indemnity basis.
The Claimant employer sought injunctive relief forbidding the Defendant principal contractor from changing arrangements and practices for the health and safety or access to the site. The Claimant sought to rely in particular on clause 3.1 of the JCT affording the Contract Administrator “at all reasonable times access to the works”.
The Court accepted the Defendant’s submissions that there was no urgency and no arguable case. There was no right under clause 3.1 of the JCT or otherwise for access of the Contract Administrator or Employer out-of-hours and in the absence of the principal contractor. The Court accepted, in any event, that damages would be an adequate remedy, and that the balance of convenience favoured rejecting the injunction.
The judgment considered the American Cyanamid principles, the health and safety provisions of the JCT, section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, regulation 13 of the CDM Regulations 2015, and indemnity costs.
