ADJUDICATION AND TIME LIMITS

Epping Electrical Co Ltd v Briggs and Forrester (Plumbing Services) Ltd [2007] EWHC 4 (TCC), 19 January 2007

In Epping Electrical Co Ltd v Briggs and Forrester (Plumbing Services) Ltd [2007] EWHC 4 (TCC), 19 January 2007, Judge Richard Havery QC held, following the decision of the Inner House of the Court of Session in Richie Brothers (PWC) Ltd v David Philp (Commercials) Ltd [2005] BLR 384, that the time limits within which adjudicators must make their decisions are mandatory so that a failure to comply with the applicable time limit renders the decision of the adjudicator unenforceable. On the facts of the case the defendant had only agreed to extend the time available to the adjudicator provided that the adjudicator ‘issued’ his decision by 21 November 2006. His failure to issue his decision by that date meant that the time available to him had not been extended with the consequence that his decision was not enforceable.