ADJUDICATION AND NATURAL JUSTICE

Kier Regional Ltd v City & General (Holburn) Ltd [2006] EWHC 848 (TCC), 6 March 2006

In Kier Regional Ltd v City & General (Holburn) Ltd [2006] EWHC 848 (TCC), 6 March 2006, Mr Justice Jackson ordered that a decision of an adjudicator be enforced notwithstanding the complaint made by the defendant that there had been a breach of natural justice by the adjudicator. In so concluding, Mr Justice Jackson considered the status of the decision of Judge Thornton in Buxton Building Contractors Ltd v The Governors of Durand Primary School [2004] BLR 374 and concluded that (i) it was unclear whether the case had been correctly decided and (ii) in the light of the decision of the Court of Appeal in Carillion Construction Ltd v Devonport Royal Dockyard Ltd [2005] EWCA Civ 1358 (on which see our December 2005/January 2006 issue, pp1–5) that certain passages in the judgment of Judge Thornton in Buxton must now be regarded as incorrect.