Exemption clauses have teeth ‒ negotiate contracts carefully

The Court of Appeal has recently provided guidance on the application of the contra preferentum rule in (1) Persimmon Homes Limited (2) Taylor Wimpey UK Limited (3) BDW Trading Limited v Ove Arup & Partners Limited (2) Ove Arup & Partners International Limited.

In this case, the defendant engineers failed to advise the claimants, a consortium of developers, of the existence of asbestos at a development site.