HGCR Act 1996 - Enforcement of Adjudicators Decision Timescale

© Daniel Atkinson 2001 02 October 2001

SUMMARY

A party may seek and be granted an abridged summary procedure. In which case a decision may be given within 6 weeks of issue of the writ and in many cases in a considerably shorter period.

In Outwing the Court considered whether the issue of a summons to abridge time was justified. It was held that it was:

"Action to enforce an adjudicator’s decision is not comparable to the ordinary process of recovering an apparently undisputed debt. ....... The HGCRA (and the statutory instruments made under it) constitute a remarkable (and possibly unique) intervention in very carefully selected parts of the construction industry whereby the ordinary freedom of contract between commercial parties (without regard to bargaining power) to regulate their relationships has been overridden in a number of areas, one of which is dispute resolution. The overall intention of Parliament is clear: disputes are to go to adjudication and the decision of the adjudicator has to be complied with, pending final determination.. ..... It is clear that the purpose of the Act is that disputes are resolved quickly and effectively and then put to one side and revived, if at all, in litigation and arbitration, the hope being that the decision of the adjudicator might be accepted or form the basis of a compromise or might usefully inform the parties as to the possible reaction of the ultimate tribunal.

In my view a party seeking compliance is perfectly entitled to apply for an abridgement of time, and in this Court at this time, perhaps even to obtain a provisional or fixed time for the hearing of an Order 14 or other application...

On the other hand it should not be thought that time will be abridged in every case i.e. that it will always be sufficient simply to rely on the fact that an adjudicator has made a decision which had not been complied with........ A party in the position of this defendant who needed to take legal advice might have been able to show that some of the quite tough abridgements proposed would be unjust to it......."

In Palmers Limited v ABB Power Construction Ltd (1999) TCC Palmers submitted its Notice Seeking Adjudication on 15^th July 1999. On 20^th July ABB responded that the adjudicator lacked jurisdiction. On 26^th July 1999 Palmers issued a claim seeking answers to six questions of law. The proceedings were expedited by both parties, and argument was heard in TCC on 30^th July 1999. Judgment was reserved and a hearing was convened on 5^th August 1999 to hand down the draft judgment.