MULTIPLE ADJUDICATIONS AGAIN

HG Construction Ltd v Ashwell Homes (East Anglia) Ltd [2007] EWHC 144 (TCC), [2007] BLR 175

In HG Construction Ltd v Ashwell Homes (East Anglia) Ltd [2007] EWHC 144 (TCC), [2007] BLR 175 Mr Justice Ramsey distinguished the decision of the Court of Appeal in Quietfield Ltd v Vascroft Contractors Ltd [2006] EWCA Civ 1737; [2007] BLR 67 (on which see our February 2007 issue, pp. 1–4) and held that the decision of the adjudicator was not enforceable because the issue which the adjudicator had purported to decide had already been decided by an adjudicator in an earlier adjudication. Therefore it was the decision of the adjudicator in the first adjudication that was binding on the parties and not the decision of the adjudicator in the subsequent adjudication. In the course of his judgment Mr Justice Ramsey also helpfully set out the effects of clause 39A7.1 of the JCT Standard Form of Building Contract with Contractor’s Design (1998 edition).