Costly Contracts And Problematic Punctuation

When you are trying hard to look after the pennies there can be few things worse than realising that your contract doesn't mean quite what you thought it did...and that you might lose out as a result. A missing definition, a comma in the wrong place or an extra zero on an already high figure can lead to a costly and time-consuming dispute. Whilst there is, of course, no substitute for getting it right in the first place, the recent case in the House of Lords (Chartbrook Limited (Respondents) v Persimmon Homes Limited and others (Appellants) and another (Respondent) [2009] UKHL 38) is a good reminder of the arguments that might be encountered when things go wrong. As a House of Lords decision, the judgment is the latest and definitive word on contractual interpretation.