Monday 23 March 2026
Your weekly SQE Prep Quiz has arrived
Dear Subscriber,
Hope you had a great weekend. Please see below for the question, the answer to the previous question and associated resources. This is the web version of this newsletter.
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This Week’s Question: A company contracts with a software developer to build a bespoke booking platform for £120,000, to be delivered by 1 June. The contract states that “time is of the essence” and that the platform must be capable of processing at least 5,000 bookings per hour. On 1 June, the developer delivers a functioning platform, but it can only process 3,500 bookings per hour. The company uses the platform for two months while repeatedly asking for the performance problem to be fixed. It then purports to terminate the contract and claims the cost of replacing the whole system with a new provider. Which of the following best reflects the company’s legal position?
A. The company automatically lost the right to terminate by using the platform after delivery, so it is limited to damages only for the reduced processing capacity.
B. The company is entitled to terminate because any failure to meet a contractual specification is a repudiatory breach where time is of the essence.
C. The company may have affirmed the contract by continuing to use the platform, and whether termination was still available will depend on whether the breach was repudiatory and whether affirmation can be inferred from its conduct.
D. The company cannot terminate because the platform was substantially performing the contract and substantial performance always prevents termination.
E. The company is entitled to terminate and recover the full replacement cost because the platform never matched the contractual description, regardless of its later conduct.
Dig Deeper: Revise FLK Contract Law on https://youtu.be/rT-L0KhAOMo
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Last Week’s Question: A claimant issues proceedings for £85,000 arising out of an alleged breach of contract. Six months before trial, the defendant sends a written offer for £83,500 stating that it is made pursuant to Part 36, that it relates to the whole of the claim, and that it will remain open for acceptance for 21 days. The claimant does not accept. At trial, the claimant is awarded £82,000 plus interest. The claimant argues that she has effectively succeeded because she recovered most of what she claimed and therefore should receive her costs throughout. What is the most likely effect of the defendant’s offer on costs?
A. The claimant will recover her costs in full because she obtained judgment for a substantial sum and succeeded on the main issue.
B. The claimant will recover her costs up to the date of the offer, and thereafter each party will usually bear its own costs because the claimant still obtained judgment.
C. The claimant will recover all of her costs unless the defendant can show that the claimant acted unreasonably in refusing the offer.
D. The claimant will usually be ordered to pay the defendant’s costs from the end of the relevant period, unless the court considers that outcome unjust.
E. The defendant will usually be ordered to pay the claimant’s costs throughout because the judgment was only slightly below the amount claimed.
✅ Correct Answer: D. The claimant will usually be ordered to pay the defendant’s costs from the end of the relevant period, unless the court considers that outcome unjust. Feedback: Under CPR Part 36, if a defendant makes a valid Part 36 offer and the claimant fails to obtain a judgment more advantageous than the defendant’s offer, the usual consequence is that the claimant recovers her own costs only up to the end of the relevant period; and pays the defendant’s costs from the end of that period, with interest, unless the court considers that such an order would be unjust. The key comparison is not between the amount claimed and the amount recovered, but between the Part 36 offer and the judgment obtained. A claimant who recovers a large sum may still suffer adverse costs consequences if she fails to beat the defendant’s valid offer.
The other options are incorrect because:
A wrongly focuses on overall success rather than the Part 36 comparison.
B is incorrect because the usual consequence is not that each party bears its own costs after the relevant period.
C is incorrect because the burden is not simply on the defendant to show unreasonable refusal; the Part 36 regime applies automatically unless unjust.
E is incorrect because being only slightly below the pleaded claim does not matter if the claimant failed to beat the offer.
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Dr Ioannis (Yannis) Glinavos
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