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England and Wales High Court (Technology and Construction Court) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Technology and Construction Court) Decisions >> Bond v Mackay & Ors [2018] EWHC 2475 (TCC) (25 September 2018) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/TCC/2018/2475.html Cite as: [2018] EWHC 2475 (TCC) |
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BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES
TECHNOLOGY AND CONSTRUCTION COURT
Rolls Building, London, EC4A 1NL |
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B e f o r e :
(SITTING AS A DEPUTY HIGH COURT JUDGE)
____________________
WILLIAM HENRY BOND |
Claimant |
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- and - |
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(1) RODERICK MACKAY (2) PERENCO UK LIMITED (3) SOUTHERN GAS NETWORKS plc |
Defendants |
____________________
Mr Mark Wonnacott QC (instructed by Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP) for the Defendants
Hearing dates: 25th July, 25th September 2018
Draft available to the parties 2nd August 2018
____________________
Crown Copyright ©
Mr Jonathan Acton Davis QC:
The BG Deed [1/1]
"British Gas (to the intent and so as to bind the easements hereby granted into whosoever hands the same may come and to benefit and protect the said land and every part thereof) hereby covenants with the Grantor as follows:-
i) In exercising the easements hereby granted British Gas shall take all reasonable precautions to avoid obstruction to or interference with the user of the said land and damage and injury thereto."
"The Grantor (to the intent and so as to bind the said land and land of the Grantor adjoining thereto and every part thereof into whosoever hands the same may come and to benefit and protect the easements hereby granted) hereby covenants with British Gas as follows:-
i) The Grantor shall not do or cause or permit to be done on the said land or land of the Grantor adjoining thereto anything calculated or likely to cause damage or injury to the said Works and will take all reasonable precautions to prevent such damage or injury.
ii) The Grantor shall not without the prior consent in writing of British Gas make or cause or permit to be made any material alteration to or any deposit of anything upon any part of the said strip of land so as to interfere with or obstruct the access thereto or to the said Works by British Gas or so as to lessen or in any way interfere with the support afforded to the said Works by the surrounding soil including the minerals also as materially to reduce the depth of soil above the said Works.
iii) The Grantor shall not erect or install or cause or permit to be erected or installed any building or structure or permanent apparatus in, through, upon, or over the said strip of land.
….
"Any dispute arising under Clauses 2 and 3 hereof shall be determined in default of agreement by a single arbitrator to be agreed upon between the parties hereto or failing agreement to be appointed on the application of either party after notice in writing to the other party by the President of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and save as aforesaid the provisions of the Arbitration Acts 1950 and 1979 and of any statutory modification or re-enactment thereof for the time being in force shall apply to any such reference and determination."
"(iv) Any dispute arising out of the provisions of this Clause shall be referred to a single Arbitrator to be agreed upon between the parties in dispute and in default of such agreement to the Lands Tribunal."
"6(i) the provisions of Clauses 2 and 3 hereof shall have effect subject to this Clause.
(ii) Subject to the provisions of this Clause the provisions (in this Clause called "the said provisions") substituted by part II of and the first, second and third schedules to the Mines (Working Facilities and Support) Act 1923 for Sections 78 to 85 of the Railway's Clauses Consolidation Act 1845 shall be deemed to be incorporated here.
(iii) The said provisions shall be construed as if references to the Mine Owner were references to the Grantor….
(iv) Any arbitration under the said provisions shall be by a single Arbitrator to be agreed upon between the parties in dispute and in default of agreement by the Lands Tribunal and Section 85(D)(iii) of the said provisions shall be of no effect.
"INASMUCH as the Grantor has prior to the date hereto agreed to grant BP Petroleum Development Limited…a Lease of Land and Rights (which Lease is hereafter in this clause referred to as "the DPB") in respect of a pipeline intended to be laid within the said strip of land approximately at the same time as and along a route parallel with that of the said Works.
NOW IT IS HEREBY AGREED AND DECLARED as follows:-
(i) In relation to any dispute or difference between the Grantor and British Gas, which under one or other of the provisions of this Deed falls to be determined by Arbitration and the subject matter of which dispute or difference is or may also be the subject matter of a dispute or difference between the Grantor and BP the Grantor hereby covenants with British Gas to take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that any such dispute or difference between the Grantor and British Gas shall be made the subject of the same arbitration proceedings as are instituted in respect of the dispute or difference between the Grantor and BP to the intent that any dispute or difference which does or may involve the Grantor on the one hand and both British Gas and BP on the other shall be the subject of one and the same arbitration proceedings…"
"(i) a dispute arising under Clauses 2 and 3 is determined by a single Arbitrator to be agreed or appointed by the President of the RICS;
(ii) a dispute under Clause 5 of the Deed is referred to a single Arbitrator to be agreed or in default of such agreement by the Lands Tribunal (now the Upper Tribunal);
(iii) a dispute under Clause 6(ii) and (iii) of the Deed are referred to a single Arbitrator to be agreed and in default of agreement by the Lands Tribunal (now the Upper Tribunal).
The Chronology
"You are hereby on notice under Clause 5(ii) of the Deed that … (in the alternative the other option for settling compensation is set out in Clause 6 of the Deed…"
"Cannot therefore constitute notice… under either Clause 5 or 6 of the Deed of Grant."
"My instructions are to apply to the President of the RICS to make the appointment."
Paragraphs 13-17 of that letter refer to Clauses 5 and 6 of the BG Deed. There is no mention of any claim under Clause 2.
"With regard to the Deed, we wholly dispute the RICS's jurisdiction to deal with this matter. Clauses 5 and 6 of the Deed expressly provide that any dispute arising out of these provisions shall be referred to a single Arbitrator to be agreed between the parties in dispute and in default of such agreement to the Lands Tribunal (now the Property Chamber). Given that the parties have failed to agree a single Arbitrator, the correct form for the resolution of this dispute is the Property Chamber and not the RICS."
"Your client's rights to operate a pipeline in the BG Deed of easement are subject to covenants in Clause 2….".
The letter sets out the wording of Clause 2(i) sets out what SGN is required to do under Clause 2.1 and promises to refer the matter to arbitration under Clause 4 in the event that SGN do not do what is required of them. The matter is described as a 'potential dispute…under Clause 2(i) involving "the same subject matter as the present arbitration between Bond and Perenco under the BP Lease…' "
The letter concludes:
"In the circumstances we seek your substantive response on the above within 7 days of the date of this letter, after which we will proceed on the assumption there is in existence the dispute under Clause 2(i) that we describe above and will move to refer the matter to arbitration."
"It is now appropriate that Mr Mackay is contacted directly to be informed of our request that he accept an appointment as Arbitrator to resolve the dispute in respect of SGN's obligations under Clause 2(i) of the BG Deed."
There is a reference to Clause 7(i) of the BG Deed and the scope of the Arbitration is described in the Request for Appointment of an Arbitrator dated 27th June 2013 as being "the compensation payable to the landlord and tenant in respect of the sterilization…" It is said that "The scope of the Arbitration is not limited on its terms to facts and circumstances in existence of the date of the Arbitration Request of June 2013". And "the issues in the arbitration are not constrained by the Statements of Case that have been lodged to date, which are subsidiary to the scope of the arbitration itself. They are capable of being amended with the permission of the Arbitrator"…hence a request is made that by agreement "the Arbitrator…consolidate the Arbitration in respect of Clause 2(i) with the extant arbitration…"
Discussion
"the principles may be summarised as follows:
..(2) the background was famously referred to by Lord Wilberforce as "the matrix of fact" but this phrase is, if anything, an under stated description of what the background may include. Subject to the requirement that it should have been reasonably available to the parties and to the exception to be mentioned next, it includes absolutely anything which would have affected the way in which the language of the document would have been understood by a reasonable man…."