Module 2 · Chapter 5

The Defence, the Counterclaim and the Liability Cap

The other side answers the claim, relies on its own terms and makes a claim back. This chapter shows how to read that answer, and how the claimant replies.

≈ 10 min read 8-question test

In this chapter

  • How a Defence admits, denies or does not admit each part of the claim
  • What the other side’s clauses, and the cap above all, would take away
  • How the Reply deals with the counterclaim and attacks the clauses

5.1Answering a claim in one paragraph

Once the Particulars are served, the defendant must answer them. Its answer is the Defence, which goes through them point by point and says what it accepts and what it fights. In the same document, the defendant can make a claim of its own, called a counterclaim. The claimant then answers both in one document, the Reply.

Key point

The Defence decides what is left to fight. Here Corledge fights on two fronts: what caused the cracks, and whether its own clauses cut what it must pay.

Also in this chapter

  1. Reading a Defence: admitted, denied, not admitted
  2. The clauses Corledge relies on
  3. The counterclaim and set-off
  4. The Reply: why the clauses are unreasonable
  5. Your job

Preview

The rest of this chapter opens with a free account. Every edition is free to read until 31 January. Open a free account by the end of that day and keep every edition published by then, for good. Open it from the edition home →