30 Apr 2021PRATER LTD v JOHN SISK & SON (HOLDINGS) LTD The adjudicator’s decision in the previous adjudication remained binding on the parties and consequently in any subsequent adjudication, including the later adjudication unless and until successfully challenged before the court pursuant to clause W2.3(11) of NEC3
30 Apr 2021DELTA FABRICATION & GLAZING LTD v WATKIN JONES & SON LTD The two sub-contracts were not amalgamated into one contract by the contractor making an offer to do so by issuing a payment notice relating to both sub-contracts which was accepted by the sub-contractor issuing a request for payment as one payment application relating to both the sub-contracts
26 Apr 2021Dispute ResolutionInsolvent Claimants and the right to adjudicate in Construction Contracts In September 2010 the Society of Construction Law published a paper called Using Adjudication to Resolve Disputes when one of the Parties is Insolvent (D112). Those of you with long memories may recall that I was the author of that paper. I wrote the paper out of academic interest and because at the time my firm was acting for a significant number of Administrators and Liquidators of claimant companies in disputes where Respondents were effectively taking advantage of our client’s insolvent status to deny our clients the right to payment of sums properly due to them.
22 Apr 2021Dispute ResolutionRefuse to mediate? Don’t be surprised by the consequences! Unless you have been living in a distant galaxy and have only just arrived on planet Earth you will know that there is a long history of reported cases in which parties, who have refused to engage in mediation without a very good reason indeed, have been routinely punished by the courts when it comes to dealing with costs. To be clear, having a very strong belief in the merits of your case is simply not a good enough reason to refuse to mediate.
31 Mar 2021TRANSPORT FOR GREATER MANCHESTER v KIER CONSTRUCTION LTD The notice of dissatisfaction sent by the responding party’s solicitors to the referring party’s solicitors’ address which had been notified for receiving communications in the adjudication was valid despite not being in accordance with the specified means of communication
22 Feb 2021MOTACUS CONSTRUCTIONS LTD v PAOLO CASTELLI SPA The adjudicator’s award should be enforced summarily despite the sub-contract providing that all disputes as to the validity, execution, performance, interpretation or termination of the sub-contract were to be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Paris, France
11 Feb 2021FIELD SYSTEMS DESIGNS LTD v MW HIGH TECH PROJECTS UK LTD The employer’s contention that the adjudicator failed to exhaust his jurisdiction by not dealing in his decision with its “Subcontract/JV” point advanced by it in the adjudication hearing by way of defence should be rejected
26 Jan 2021THE FRASERBURGH HARBOUR COMMISSIONERS v McLAUGHLIN & HARVEY LTD The employer’s action against the contractor for defects should be dismissed when clause W2.4 of NEC3 operated as a contractual bar to preclude resort to the court (or to arbitration) if a dispute between the parties falling within the scope of that clause had not first been referred to adjudication
12 Jan 2021BARHALE LTD v SP TRANSMISSION PLC The adjudicator in his decision deliberately failed to address effectively or at all the argument advanced by the employer as to the measurement of the bulk excavation, disposal and fill work carried out by the contractor and thereby failed to exhaust his jurisdiction
30 Dec 2020D McLAUGHLIN & SONS LTD v EAST AYRSHIRE COUNCIL The employer’s counterclaim in opposition to the summary enforcement of the adjudicator’s award of the sum in the contractor’s payment notice on the grounds that the notice was valid and that the employer did not give a timeous pay less notice should not be determined in the enforcement proceedings
18 Dec 2020AQUA LEISURE INTERNATIONAL LTD v BENCHMARK LEISURE LTD The employer did not waive its right to oppose enforcement of the adjudicator’s award of the costs of the adjudication to the contractor under section 5A(2A) of the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998
17 Dec 2020EX NOVO LTD v MPS HOUSING LTD Adjudicator’s rejection of the jurisdictional challenge that there was more than one contract was not part of the payment dispute referred and thus was not binding when that ruling was not necessary to make an award (of any amount) because the dispute concerned the absence of a pay less notice
