TALLY WIEJL (UK) LTD v PEGRAM SHOPFITTERS LTD – APPEAL ALLOWED

Tally Wiejl (UK) Ltd v Pegram Shopfitters Ltd [2003] EWCA Civ 1750, 21 November 2003

The Court of Appeal in Tally Wiejl (UK) Ltd v Pegram Shopfitters Ltd [2003] EWCA Civ 1750, 21 November 2003, has allowed an appeal from the decision of Judge Thornton QC (on which see our September 2003 issue, pp.1–4) and held that both the judge and the adjudicator had erred in concluding that the parties had agreed that their relationship was governed by a construction contract and that the defendant was precluded from subsequently contending that there was no such contract. The court also held that Judge Thornton had been wrong to suppose that, because there was, in his view, a construction contract but the parties were not able clearly to identify its terms, that the Scheme for Construction Contracts applied because the parties had not produced a construction contract which complied with s108 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996. The Court of Appeal concluded that the defendant’s submission that there was no contract and therefore the Regulations did not apply could not be dismissed as fanciful and therefore this was not an appropriate case for summary judgment.