JOHN DOYLE CONSTRUCTION LTD (IN LIQUIDATION) v ERITH CONTRACTORS LTD

[2020] EWHC 2451 (TCC), Technology and Construction Court, Fraser J, 14 September 2020

Adjudication – Company bringing claim in liquidation – Summary judgment – Stay of execution

The claimant brought a claim to enforce the decision of an adjudicator in which the adjudicator decided that the defendant should pay to the claimant £1.2 million. The dispute arose out of the settlement of the final account in connection with a project under which the claimant carried out hard landscaping works at the 2012 London Olympics. The claimant entered into creditors voluntary liquidation in 2013. The liquidators attempted to reach a settlement with the defendant but failed. The liquidators formed the view that there was a valid claim against the defendant and so sought to sell or assign the rights under the contract to a third party. This led to the involvement of Henderson Jones whose business was to purchase legal claims from insolvent companies. The claimant subsequently commenced the adjudication in January 2018. The delay between 2018 and the present proceedings in July 2020 was attributed to the "developing law concerning the rights of companies in liquidation to adjudicate disputes at all".