Adjudication and Natural Justice

In ATG Services (Scotland) Ltd v Ogilvie Construction Ltd [2024] CSOH 94, Lord Sandison held that the defender was not entitled to resist enforcement of the decision of an adjudicator on the ground that the adjudicator had breached the principles of natural justice. The submission that the adjudicator had failed to identify a rule of Scots law which supported the conclusion which he had reached was held to be an "immaterial distraction" given that the parties had been given ample opportunity to address the adjudicator on the issue of the legal principle that was in dispute. In reaching his conclusion, Lord Sandison stated that judicial policy should seek to discourage "the statement of frivolous defences, such as those advanced here, to actions seeking to enforce adjudicators' decisions".