Adjudication and s9 of the Arbitration Act 1996

The Metropolitan Borough Council of Sefton v Allenbuild Ltd [2022] EWHC 1443 (TCC)

In The Metropolitan Borough Council of Sefton v Allenbuild Ltd [2022] EWHC 1443 (TCC), HH Judge Hodge QC, sitting as a judge of the High Court, held that the defendant was not entitled to a stay under s9 of the Arbitration Act 1996, the effect of which would have been to prevent the claimant from obtaining summary judgment in order to enforce the decision of an adjudicator in its favour. He held that the adjudication provisions which had been incorporated into the contract between the parties excluded any challenge to the decision of an adjudicator from the range of matters which could be referred to arbitration, so that the court had jurisdiction to grant summary judgment in favour of the claimant and it therefore declined the defendant’s application for a stay and granted summary judgment in favour of the claimant.