PBS ENERGO AS v BESTER GENERACION UK LTD

[2020] EWCA Civ 404, Court of Appeal Civil Division, Coulson and Rose LJJ and Sir Timothy Lloyd, 19 March 2020

Summary judgment – Fraud as a defence to enforcement of decision of an adjudicator – Impact of final determination of the issues between the parties by a court on decision of adjudicator

The claimant sought summary judgment in order to enforce the decision of an adjudicator. The defendant resisted enforcement on the ground that the decision of the adjudicator had been procured by fraud on the part of the claimant. At first instance, Pepperall J held that this was one of the rare cases in which the defendant was entitled to resist enforcement of the decision of the adjudicator and accordingly declined to grant summary judgment in favour of the claimant. The claimant appealed to the Court of Appeal, which dismissed the appeal.