Significant Court of Appeal judgment on concurrent liability in contract and tort 

18 January 2011

“...it must now be regarded as settled law that the builder/vendor of a building does not by reason of his contract to construct or to complete the building assume any liability in the tort of negligence in relation to defects in the building giving rise to purely economic loss...decisions...in which building contractors were held to have assumed a duty of care in tort in relation to financial loss resulting from defects in the building they constructed, in the absence of damage to other property, were wrongly decided”,

so held the Court of Appeal (Jackson LJ, Stanley Burnton LJ, Maurice Kay LJ) in the case of Robinson v P.E. Jones (Contractors) Ltd handed down on Tuesday 18 January 2011.

Martin Budworth represented the successful housebuilder.

In short, there has been a re-affirmation of the law as stated in D&F Estates Ltd v Church Commissioners [1989] and Murphy v Brentwood DC [1991], whereas Anns v Merton LBC [1978] “must now be regarded as aberrant, indeed as heretical”.

Furthermore, Henderson v Merrett [1995] is not authority for a proposition that every contractual obligation to do something carries with it a parallel tortious duty to the same effect; simply, that the existence of a contract does not prevent a tortious duty from arising.

Martin Budworth has prepared a case note which can be accessed here.

The full judgment can be accessed here.

If you have any queries about the detail of the issues in the proceedings which are not apparent from the judgment then Martin is happy to be contacted in chambers to assist.