‘DECISION’ OF ADJUDICATOR THAT HE WAS UNABLE TO DECIDE A NULLITY

Ballast plc v The Burrell Company (Construction Management) Ltd (unreported, 17 December 2002)

The Inner House of the Court of Session in Ballast plc v The Burrell Company (Construction Management) Ltd (unreported, 17 December 2002), dismissed an appeal from the decision of Lord Reid ( [2001] BLR 529, on which see our February 2002 issue, pp.5–9), in which he held that the ‘decision’ of an adjudicator that he was unable to decide the dispute between the parties was a nullity. The Inner House concluded that Lord Reid had been entitled to conclude that the adjudicator had failed to address the question asked of him and, this being the case, his decision was a nullity. An adjudicator must answer the question asked of him: he cannot decline to address it.