NORTHUMBRIAN WATER LTD v DOOSAN ENPURE LTD AND ANOTHER

[2022] EWHC 2881 (TCC), Technology and Construction Court, O’Farrell J, 14 November 2022

Adjudication – Summary judgment to enforce decision – Whether defendant entitled to stay of proceedings in favour of arbitration

The claimant applied for summary judgment in order to enforce the decision of an adjudicator in which the adjudicator ordered the defendant to pay to the claimant the sum of £22,458,540.04 plus interest and 90 per cent of the adjudicator’s fees. The defendant sought to resist enforcement on the ground that it was entitled to a stay of proceedings pursuant to s9 of the Arbitration Act 1996. The principal issue which O’Farrell J was required to decide was whether any dispute about non-payment of the adjudicator’s decision, including enforcement, must be referred to arbitration.