In this, the first issue of 2015, we look at the first case from the Supreme Court dealing with statutory adjudication – if a construction adjudicator’s decision has gone against you, and you have had to pay out money in compliance with it, what is the time limit for you to bring legal or arbitral proceedings to have the dispute finally determined in your favour? Is it the time limit applying to the original claim, or do you get the benefit of a new period of 6 years from the date you made the payment? Aspect Contracts (Asbestos) Limited v. Higgins Construction Plc provides the answer.
I have also chosen to look at two cases dealing with payment – the first looks at whether it is possible to serve more than one payment application in a month and the second looks at whether an employer can challenge a payment notice in circumstances where he has failed to issue the requisite payless notice.
On a more substantive ground, we look at whether final certificates can be subject to so-called ‘forum shopping’ – in other words can one start an adjudication and also court/arbitration proceedings? Trustees of the Marc Gilbard 2009 Settlement Trust v. OD Developments and Projects Ltd provides the answer. Readers ought to note that the High Court in (1) Sierra Fishing Company (2) Said Jamil Said Mohamed (3) The State of Jamil Said Mohamed (together ‘Sierra’) v. (1) Hasan Said Farran (2) Ahmad Mehdi Assad (3) Ali Zbeeb granted an application made by Sierra to remove an arbitrator under section 24 (1)(a) of the Arbitration Act 1996 on the grounds of impartiality – the case contains excellent guidance on how one ought to approach conflicts and impartiality.
It has been my aim for a while to increase the number of articles from external contributors, and I would encourage readers to suggest topics of specific interest and to submit articles. May I wish all readers a most enjoyable 2015.
