FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH TIME LIMIT DID NOT INVALIDATE DECISION

Barnes & Elliot Ltd v Taylor Woodrow Holdings Ltd [2003] EWHC 3100 (TCC); [2004] BLR 111

In Barnes & Elliot Ltd v Taylor Woodrow Holdings Ltd [2003] EWHC 3100 (TCC); [2004] BLR 111 Judge Humphrey LLoyd QC held that the failure by an adjudicator to comply with a time limit for the giving of his decision did not of itself render the decision unenforceable. That said, the decision does not confer on an adjudicator an entitlement not to complete the decision within the time allowed. It is important to see the case in its immediate factual context. The adjudicator in the present case had written his decision within the agreed time-frame and his error was one that related to the communication of the decision to the parties. In such a case a delay of one day in reaching the decision did not invalidate the decision. In other cases the courts may not be so lenient.