Cases - Chamberlain Carpentry & Joinery Ltd v Alfred McAlpine Construction Ltd
Record details
- Name
- Chamberlain Carpentry & Joinery Ltd v Alfred McAlpine Construction Ltd
- Date
- 2002]
- Citation
- EWHC 514 (TCC)
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Construction - adjudication - jurisdiction - meaning of dispute - whether more than one dispute can be referred in a single notice - multiple disputes - Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, section 108
- Summary
-
Disputes arose between Chamberlain and McAlpine, which were referred to adjudication. The adjudicator decided that McAlpine should pay Chamberlain the sum of £56,000, however McAlpine refused to pay.
During these proceedings - brought to enforce the decision of the adjudicator - McAlpine argued that the adjudicator's decision was a nullity because Chamberlain had sought to refer several disputes, not just one.
The adjudicator decided that what constitutes a dispute fit to be referred to adjudication as a single dispute is a question of fact. In this case he decided that what Chamberlain referred to adjudication was a dispute as to how much it should be paid by McAlpine.
The judge also concluded that in determining what disputes had been referred to adjudication his enquiries should be limited to the notice of intention to adjudicate and should not extend to the referral notice.
However, see also R. Durtnell & Sons Ltd v Kaduna Ltd (2003) in which the judge compared the JCT adjudication scheme in clause 41a of the contract with the Scheme for Construction Contracts and concluded that whilst it was clear that under the Scheme for Construction Contracts only one dispute could be the subject of one notice of adjudication, the same did not apply to the JCT adjudication scheme.