ABB Ltd v Bam Nuttall Ltd
Citation: EWHC 1983 (TCC); [2013] B.L.R. 529; 149 Con. L.R. 172; [2013] C.I.L.L. 3401
Nature of case:
The parties had referred their dispute to an adjudicator, that dispute being in relation to a power upgrade on the London Underground network. The issue in the case was whether the adjudicator’s decision was, as argued by ABB, unenforceable as having arisen from a breach of natural justice. It was common ground in the claim that the adjudicator’s decision referred to a particular clause of the contract, to which he had not referred the parties.
The Court warned against speculating about what an adjudicator might have done in the absence of such a failure in the process of the hearing, but went on to find that, in this case, it was “abundantly clear that [the adjudicator] attached real importance” to the clause in question. In deciding a key issue in reliance upon that clause, the adjudicator had acted in breach of the rules of natural justice; his decision was therefore unenforceable. Link to judgment.
