ADJUDICATION, NATURAL JUSTICE AND THE GRANT OF A STAY

In NAP Anglia Ltd v Sun-Land Development Co Ltd [2011] EWHC 2846, [2011] All ER (D) 172 (Nov), Mr Justice Edwards-Stuart held that an adjudicator had not breached the principles of natural justice. In so concluding, he distinguished between the case where the adjudicator fails to consider and address a substantive defence put forward by the responding party (which will generally result in a breach of natural justice) and a failure to address some particular aspect of the evidence or element of that party’s submissions (which will not amount to a breach). He refused to grant a stay of enforcement on the ground that the issue was also the subject of litigation between the parties, but he did grant a stay to the extent that it had been demonstrated that the claimant might not be able to make repayment in the event that it lost the litigation between the parties.

The facts

The claimant, NAP Anglia Ltd, sought to enforce the decision of an adjudicator under which the adjudicator had ordered the defendant, Sun-Land Development Co Ltd, to pay to the claimant the sum of £96,334.31. The defendant resisted enforcement on the ground that the adjudicator had failed to comply with the principles of natural justice. There was a further dispute in relation to the liability to pay the fees of the adjudicator.