Light at the end of the tunnel in ‘hot tubbing’ case?

SSE brought the £130 million claim against Hochtief, the design and build contractor, after a pressurised water tunnel at the Glendoe Hydroelectric Scheme, near Fort Augustus, collapsed in 2009 shortly after the scheme had been brought into operation.

The litigation made Scottish legal history by being the first to include “hot tubbing” or, as it is less salaciously called, “concurrent evidence”. This involved the parties’ experts in the same or similar disciplines giving their evidence at the same time. A single microphone was passed between the experts, who responded in turn to questions from the court and counsel.

The experts also had the opportunity to address comments directly to each other. There were three such sessions, one of which took place over two days and involved seven experts, all sitting in the jury box.

The case was heard by Lord Woolman in the Commercial Court of the Court Session. After four days of submissions, the court made avizandum on 22 April.

SSE was represented by Gerry Moynihan QC, Sean Smith QC, Jonathan Barne, Almira Delibegović-Broome and Paul O’Brien, all of Axiom Advocates.

Hochtief was represented by Alistair Clark QC and Martin Richardson, also of Axiom Advocates.