Adjudication and the recovery of consultants’ costs

In Octoesse LLP v Trak Special Projects Ltd [2016] EWHC 3180 (TCC) Jefford J held that the claimant was not entitled to a declaration that the decision of the adjudicator was unenforceable. The adjudicator had adopted the correct interpretation of the contract according to which it was an express condition of the claimant’s entitlement to give notice and deduct liquidated damages that the Contract Administrator had issued a certificate that the contractor had failed to complete the works by the relevant completion date. She also held that costs incurred by claims consultants assisting a litigant in person will usually be recoverable on adjudication enforcement proceedings assuming that the same consultants have represented the party in the adjudication. The test to be applied was whether the particular consultant’s costs are recoverable as a disbursement, a question which is answered by considering whether the costs would have been recoverable as a disbursement if it had been made by a solicitor.