ADJUDICATION AND NOVATION

Camillin Denny Architects Ltd v Adelaide Jones & Co Ltd [2009] EWHC 2110 (TCC)

In Camillin Denny Architects Ltd v Adelaide Jones & Co Ltd [2009] EWHC 2110 (TCC), [2009] All ER (D) 117 (Aug) Mr Justice Akenhead held that there was no realistic prospect on the evidence placed before him that there had been a novation of the contract between the parties which had the effect of depriving the adjudicator of jurisdiction to decide a dispute between the parties. It is important to note that the conclusion was reached on the facts of the case. As a matter of law, where there has been a clear, unqualified and fully retrospective novation by which a new party is substituted for an original party to a contract, it is the new party which can itself seek adjudication and it is against the new party that the other party must seek adjudication or, later, arbitration.