ADJUDICATION, WAIVER OF JURISDICTION AND THE NEED FOR ALL TERMS TO BE EVIDENCED IN WRITING

In Durham County Council v Jeremy Kendall (t/a HLB Architects) [2011] EWHC 780 (TCC), [2011] All ER (D) 351 (Mar) Mr Justice Akenhead held that all of the terms of the contract between the parties to the adjudication had been evidenced in writing and that the various objections raised by the defendant to the jurisdiction of the adjudicator were without foundation. Had it been necessary for him to do so, he would also have held that the defendant had waived the various specific jurisdictional objections it had made, given that it did not maintain them in the present proceedings, and that it had not sought to enter a general reservation. He therefore held that the decision of the adjudicator should be enforced.

The facts

The claimants, Durham County Council, brought the present proceedings in order to enforce the decision of an adjudicator. The defendant resisted enforcement on a number of grounds. The adjudication arose from the following circumstances.