Part 8 not appropriate to determine nature, scope and extent of common law duty of care

In RSK Environment Ltd v Hexagon Housing Association Ltd [2020] EWHC 2049 (TCC) O’Farrell J held that the claimant was not entitled to a declaration that, to the extent that it owed a common law duty of care to the defendant in respect of a ground investigation which it had carried out and a report which it had issued, the nature, scope and extent of any such duty was circumscribed by the limitation of liability provisions in a proposal document which it had issued to another party also involved in the development. The claim was held to be one that was not suitable for determination by way of Pt 8 proceedings because the contractual matrix between the parties was in dispute and the court could not determine the issues which it had been asked to determine without proper findings as to the nature of the relationships between the parties and the construction of the terms of any such contract or contracts.