Adjudicator entitled to reject submissions made by both parties

In BDP Construction Ltd v Cygnet Behavioural Health Ltd [2026] EWHC 1796 (TCC), Constable J held that the claimant was entitled to summary judgment in order to enforce the decision of an adjudicator. In doing so, he held that the defendant had failed to establish either that the adjudicator had acted in excess of his jurisdiction or that he had breached the principles of natural justice in a material respect in reaching his decision. On the facts the adjudicator had rejected the case put forward by both parties in relation to the rate at which liquidated damages were to be paid under their contract. However, it was held that it was open to the adjudicator, when assessing the evidence, to conclude that neither party had proved that which it had asserted and there was no material breach of the principles of natural justice in the adjudicator so concluding. This was not a case in which the adjudicator had purported to decide the case on a ground for which neither party had contended. Rather, it was a case in which the adjudicator had decided not to accept the case put forward by either party and that was a conclusion to which the adjudicator had been entitled to reach.