Adjudication
Paul Jensen Limited v Staveley Industries plc(2001)

© Daniel Atkinson 2002 10 January 2002

In Paul Jensen Limited v Staveley Industries plc(2001) Staveley referred a dispute with Salford City Council to Paul Jensen to act as adjudicator.  The Referral was dated 13th November 2000 and even in the referral the question of jurisdiction was raised.  A fax from Staveley to Paul Jensen dated 13th November 2000 stated that Staveley was content for the matter of jurisdiction to be dealt with prior to adjudication and cited the Atlas Ceiling case.

Paul Jensen duly considered the matter as requested and on his interpretation took the view that he did not have jurisdiction.  Staveley considered that Paul Jensen had misinterpreted the Atlas Ceiling case.

Mr District Judge Donnelly at Wigan Count Court decided on 27th September 2001 that it was not for the Court to determine whether Paul Jensen had interpreted the Atlas Ceiling case wrongly or not.  He had been asked to deal with the question as a preliminary issue and did so.  Whether he was right or wrong was irrelevant.

Paragraph 11 of the Scheme for Construction Contracts dealt with the question of aborting the appointment of the adjudicator and entitlement to fees.  there was no suggestion of default or misconduct and the mere fact of alleged wrongful determination could not be construed as default or misconduct.

It was held that in the circumstances the Scheme indicated that Paul Jensen was entitled to his fees which were reasonable.