It is commonplace for a potential adjudicator to get asked questions about previous involvement with the parties before he is appointed. All the nominating bodies do it. Solicitors often get involved in the process too. Sometimes the questions go further than just the parties, sometimes you get asked about firms of solicitors or specific individuals, such as the experts involved. Continue reading →

I’m sure most people would say the answer to the question of “when should the adjudicator deliver his decision to the parties?” is as soon as he has reached it. Certainly, I know from experience what it is like when you don’t do that.

Therefore, I was rather surprised to read the judgment in Lee v Chartered Properties, and see that an adjudicator had reached his decision on a Friday (and told the parties so), but not delivered it to them until the Monday afternoon. I wasn’t so surprised by Akenhead J’s reaction, or that he failed to enforce the adjudicator’s decision.  Continue reading →

Keen followers of adjudication case law will have noticed that there are now a few cases where adjudicators have been held to have breached the rules of natural justice, or tripped-up in the exercise of their jurisdiction, because they have not considered a party’s defence or part of it. I’m thinking of cases like Quartzelec Ltd v Honeywell Control Systems, Thermal Energy v Lentjes and Pilon v Bryer.

The issue has recently come before the Scottish Court of Session. Continue reading →