ADJUDICATOR MUST ACT IMPARTIALLY

Woods Hardwick Ltd v Chiltern Air-Conditioning Ltd [2001] BLR 23

In Woods Hardwick Ltd v Chiltern Air-Conditioning Ltd [2001] BLR 23 Judge Thornton QC dismissed an application for summary judgment of an adjudicator’s decision on the ground that the adjudicator had not acted impartially in the conduct of the adjudication. The adjudicator made two errors. The first was that he failed to make available to one of the parties information which he had obtained from the other. The second was that the adjudicator had provided a witness statement which supported the claim of one of the parties to the adjudication. An adjudicator who gives a witness statement must confine himself to a neutral factual account of what happened in the adjudication; he must not enlarge upon his reasons or seek to argue the case of the party who has sought the witness statement from him. The case underlines the need for adjudicators to take steps to ensure that, not only are they acting impartially, but that they are seen by both parties to be acting impartially.