MULTIPLE ADJUDICATIONS AND EXTENSIONS OF TIME

Quietfield Ltd v Vascroft Contractors Ltd [2006] EWHC 174 (TCC), 2 February 2006

In Quietfield Ltd v Vascroft Contractors Ltd [2006] EWHC 174 (TCC), 2 February 2006, Mr Justice Jackson dismissed an application for summary judgment to enforce an adjudicator’s decision on the ground that the adjudicator had failed to comply with the rules of natural justice. The adjudicator did not consider the defendant’s submission that it was entitled to an extension of time because he had previously held in another adjudication that the defendant was not entitled to an extension of time. However, the grounds on which the defendant claimed that it was entitled to an extension of time in this adjudication differed in significant respects from those advanced in the earlier adjudication and so the adjudicator ought to have considered them. In reaching his decision Mr Justice Jackson helpfully set out the principles to be applied when deciding whether multiple adjudications concerning extensions of time are permissible. In essence he concluded that multiple adjudications are permissible provided that each adjudication arises from a separate dispute.