Natural justice and status of final account statement

Atalian Servest AMK Ltd v B W (Electrical Contractors) Ltd and B W (Electrical Contractors) Ltd v Atalian Servest AMK Ltd [2023] CSOH 14

In Atalian Servest AMK Ltd v B W (Electrical Contractors) Ltd and B W (Electrical Contractors) Ltd v Atalian Servest AMK Ltd [2023] CSOH 14, Lord Sandison held that an adjudicator had not breached the principles of natural justice and that he had not gone off on a "frolic of his own" in reaching his decision. In relation to the finality of the Final Account Statement, it was held that the statement had been validly issued in accordance with the requirements of the contract, but that it did not have the finality for which it was contended. The basis for the latter conclusion was to be found in the wording of the particular clause in dispute but it should also be noted that Lord Sandison adopted a narrow construction of some of the leading cases dealing with the finality of statements of this kind.