Adam Temple

It has generally been accepted that only one dispute can be referred to adjudication. Although the court has generally been amenable to finding that multiple disputes have not been referred, there have been cases where a challenge on this basis has succeeded.

The extent to which that approach is correct has been opened up by the recent decision of Mr Justice Ramsey in Willmott Dixon v Newlon [2013] EWHC 798 (TCC). However, less than a month later, Mr Justice Akenhead put forward a contrary view in TSG v South Anglia [2013] EWHC 1151 (TCC).

The extent to which adjudicators can set out their thinking in advance of issuing a decision has recently been considered by the Court of Appeal in Lanes Group Plc v Galliford Try Infrastructure Limited [2011] EWHC 1 [2011] EWCA Civ 1617. Whilst the decision firmly sided with the adjudicator, the case also highlights how varied judicial views can be on what is, in theory at least, an objective question.