Cases - Jerome Engineering Ltd v Lloyd Morris Electrical Ltd
Record details
- Name
- Jerome Engineering Ltd v Lloyd Morris Electrical Ltd
- Date
- (2001); [2002]
- Citation
- CILL 1827 23/11/01
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Construction contracts - adjudication - adjudicator's decision - jurisdiction - notice of intention to adjudicate failed expressly to make request for interim payment - whether notice requested payment - whether decision enforceable
- Summary
-
This trial resulted from a failed application for summary judgment of an adjudicator's decision in relation to dispute that had arisen between the parties.
Jerome were subcontractors to Lloyd Morris under the terms of DOM/2. The adjudicator decided that an interim payment of £70,000 should be made to Jerome and that Lloyd Morris should be entirely responsible for payment of his fee.
Lloyd Morris contended that the adjudicator did not have jurisdiction to make the decision that he did because the notice of intention to adjudicate failed to make any request for an interim payment or award.
The adjudicator concluded that whilst the notice of intention to refer does not expressly specify the relief that is sought, neither the defendants nor any officious bystander could conceivably have come to any other conclusion than that the claimants were referring to adjudication because they wanted payment of that which, at least on an interim basis, was due to them.
Therefore, the judge concluded that for the purposes of the contract, while not expressly setting out the relief sought, the notice must be interpreted as being a notice of intention to refer to adjudication for the purposes of recovering money pursuant to an interim award.