Profiles

Construction

• Jonathan regularly advises and acts for employers, contractors and sub-contractors in connection with the various JCT standard form contracts in relation to all sizes and type of project.
• Instructed (as Junior Counsel to Marcus Taverner QC) on behalf of a large contractor in relation to adjudication and TCC proceedings concerning the design, construction and performance testing of a MBT waste treatment facility in Cambridgeshire.
• Instructed (as Junior Counsel to Adrian Williamson QC) on behalf of a specialist piping contractor in TCC proceedings relating to the construction of a bio-ethanol plant in Hull.  The claims concern delay and the repudiation of the contract.
• Instructed (as Junior Counsel to Alexander Nissen QC) on behalf of an international company seeking damages for the cost of replacing the air conditioning system in its European headquarters building. The Proceedings ultimately involved six Defendants and were settled shortly before trial.
• Instructed by a fit-out contractor in relation to a £3 million final account dispute with its asbestos sub-contractor regarding the refurbishment of a department store on Oxford Street, London.
• Advised on jurisdictional issues such as whether the Housing Grants Act applies to a particular contract.  Also acted on several occasions in adjudication enforcement proceedings and in applications to stay the execution of judgment relating to adjudicator’s decisions.

Professional Negligence

• Instructed (as Junior Counsel to Marcus Taverner QC) on behalf of a property developer in connection with claims against its quantity surveyors and structural engineers arising out of the Regent Quarter Development in Kings Cross, London.
• Acted in a five-week trial (as Junior Counsel to Adrian Williamson QC) where the architect, engineers and project manager were alleged to have been negligent in their design and supervision of a £4 million residential property in Jersey to such an extent that the property was demolished and had to be rebuilt.
• Acted in architects' negligence claims relating among other things to the roof design of hospital accommodation, the refurbishment of a restaurant, the fit-out of a large Central London office building and high-end residential property.
• Instructed in TCC proceedings against structural engineers (and a design and build contractor) concerning cracking to the warehouse floor of a flour mill.
• Instructed in Court proceedings against conveyancing solicitors in relation to their failure to advise the purchasers of apartments in a large apartment building in Leeds about the lack of Zurich guarantee cover concerning the common parts.
• Acted for and against mechanical and electrical engineers in connection with the design and inspection of air conditioning systems in office buildings.

Energy

• Acted (as Junior Counsel to Marcus Taverner QC) in a multi-million pound arbitration claim by a pipework sub-contractor in connection with the construction of a Liquefied Natural Gas Terminal in Wales.
• Acted for a piping and mechanical erection sub-contractor in connection with disputes regarding its work on a CCGT power station in Wales.  Those disputes gave rise to adjudication claims concerning its final account and injunction proceedings in the TCC seeking delivery up of testing documentation.
• Represented a large international contractor in an ICC arbitration relating to a multi-million dollar dispute concerning an oil pipeline in North Africa.
• Instructed as Junior Counsel to Petromec in its litigation with the Brazilian State oil company in the Commercial Court regarding the cost of constructing an oil rig in the South Pacific.

Insurance

• Jonathan has experience in relation to claims under insurance policies including professional indemnity policies, NHBC policies, the Zurich Building Guarantee and home insurance policies.
• Acted for a large insurance company (as Junior Counsel to Rosemary Jackson) in connection with a £750,000 claim by home-owners for the cost of reinstating an old barn which had burnt down in a fire.  The trial resulted in success for his client who recovered their costs on an indemnity basis.
• Acted for the NHBC in claims against builders who have failed to comply with the NHBC Rules.

Rail

• Acted for a designer and supplier of level crossing panels in connection with claims in the Commercial Court (including injunction proceedings) against the product manufacturer for breach of an exclusive distribution agreement.
• Advised a contractor responsible for the maintenance of the London Underground lines in relation to the termination of one of its sub-contracts.
• Acted (as Junior Counsel to Richard Fernyhough QC) for a telecommunications provider in an adjudication regarding the scope of its testing obligations in respect of communications systems on the London Underground.

Party Walls

• Advised and acted for parties in connection with issues arising under the Party Wall Act 1996 and appeals in respect of party wall awards.
• Represented a residential property owner in a 3-day appeal of an award relating to the party wall between neighbouring cottages.

Appellate work

• Appeared (without leader) in the Privy Council on an appeal relating to a construction project in St Lucia.
• Acted in the Court of Appeal in connection with a claim for trespass to land (which raised issues of public law and statutory interpretation regarding the Highways Act). Drafted objections to the granting of permission to appeal to the House of Lords in the same case, following which the House of Lords refused permission to appeal.
• Acted (as Junior Counsel to Marcus Taverner QC) in the Court of Appeal in connection with a claim for the enforcement of an adjudicator's decision.  The issues included whether the Adjudicator had considered the question of fraud and the legal basis upon which enforcement of adjudicators' decisions should be refused on grounds of fraud.

Other

• Represented and advised homeowners in respect of applications under the Access to Neighbouring Land Act 1992.
• Represented a Defendant to an environmental prosecution (breach of the Waste Management Legislation) in the Magistrates Court.
• Jonathan has also handled cases on general Sale of Goods disputes (including disputes relating to furniture, building materials and a yacht), copyright in architect’s design, statutory demands, winding-up and bankruptcy petitions.