Cases - Devonport Royal Dockyards Ltd v Carrillion Construction Ltd

Record details

Name
Devonport Royal Dockyards Ltd v Carrillion Construction Ltd
Date
[2005]
Citation
AII ER (D) 366 (Apr)
Legislation
Keywords
Construction contract - adjudication - jurisdiction - power to award interest - scope of referral - whether adjudicator considered interest necessarily connected with dispute - meaning of in particular - Scheme for Construction Contracts (England and Wales) Regulations 1998, clause 20 of Pt 1 of Schedule
Summary

Following adjudication, Carrillion argued that the adjudicator had acted without jurisdiction and in breach of natural justice in declining to consider the matters put forward by them. The court ruled that the possibility that an adjudicator may disregard evidence that was considered to be irrelevant was inherent in the adjudication system.

It did not render the decision of the adjudicator unenforceable as being in breach of the rules of natural justice or in excess of jurisdiction. With regard to an adjudicator being required to give reasons for his decision, a brief statement to demonstrate that he had dealt with the issues referred and his decision thereon would suffice. It would be only in exceptional circumstances, where reasons were absent or unintelligible and a party had suffered a substantial prejudice, that a court would not enforce an adjudicator's decision on the basis of inadequate reasons.