Pirelli General Cable Works Ltd v Oscar Faber & Partners

The case of Pirelli General Cable Works Ltd v Oscar Faber & Partners [1983] has been used as precedent for the limitation period applicable to claims of negligent design.

The House of Lords held that the owner of a building had a legitimate cause of action against the consulting engineer for a negligent design at the point at which physical damage to the building first occurred.

The subsequent case of Abbott v Will Gannon & Smith Ltd [2005] challenged the Pirelli law at the Court of Appeal on the basis that the case of Murphy v Brentwood DC [1991] decided that the cause of action accrued, not when physical damage first occurred but when the building owner suffered economic loss.

The Court held that the Murphy decision had not expressly or impliedly overruled the Pirelli decision. It held that if the claimant’s cause of action accrued at the time they suffered economic loss, then the loss only occurred when it became apparent in some way which would affect the building’s value. Therefore, they rejected the argument that economic loss was suffered when negligent works were completed.

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[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki

• Collateral warranties.
• Contract v tort.
• Defects.
• Design liability.
• Hedley Byrne & Co Ltd v Heller & Partners Ltd.
• Limitation of action.
• Negligence.
• Murphy v Brentwood District Council.