DAVIES & DAVIES ASSOCIATES LTD V STEVE WARD SERVICES (UK) LTD

[2021] EWHC 1337 (TCC), Technology and Construction Court, Mr Roger ter Haar QC sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge, 19 May 2021

Adjudication – Entitlement of adjudicator to recover fees – Adjudicator resigned on ground that he lacked jurisdiction – Whether that decision was correct

The claimant brought an action in which it sought summary judgment in order to recover fees payable to an adjudicator (the claimant was the company through which the adjudicator carried out his work as adjudicator). The defendant was a party to the adjudication. The adjudicator did not produce a decision because he resigned following a challenge by the other party to the adjudication to his jurisdiction as adjudicator. The ground of challenge was that the adjudication had been brought against the wrong party as it had been brought against a company rather than the director or majority shareholder in the company who was the party to the contract, which was the source of the dispute referred to adjudication.