I usually prefer to use this editorial slot to introduce readers to the content of the newsletter. In this, my final newsletter, I am however, going to depart from the norm and use this editorial to focus on case law.
Jennie Gillies
On 1 February 2015, the Professional Negligence Lawyers Association launched a voluntary pilot scheme for the adjudication of professional negligence claims brought against solicitors, up to a maximum claim value of £100,000 (the Adjudication Scheme Trial).
Call me a sceptic but in November 2009, when the Local Democracy and Economic Development Act 2009 received Royal Assent, I did not believe that the new payment regime would necessarily translate into a reduction in the number disputes over payment within the construction industry.
Whilst reading the James Golden’s article in the ‘Back to Basics” series, the crooning voice of Frank Sinatra popped into my head – not because of any particular likeness between James and Frank (although I have never seen the former in a trilby) but because this is the valedictory article in that excellent series and the “end is here”. As these things always seem to go, I then couldn’t shift the tune and was plagued by “My Way” for the remainder of the afternoon.
The theme for this quarter’s edition of the newsletter – by accident rather than design – is ‘underhand tactics’ - whether through the vexatious use of multiple adjudications, breaches of natural justice, bias or just plain corruption.
The Society has held two important meetings since our last newsletter was compiled; in November 2013 the twelfth annual conference was held in conjunction with the Association of Independent Construction Adjudicators and in January 2014 the second conference of the Adjudication Society for the Ireland Region was convened. The good news is that those members who were unable to attend either of these (very successful) events, have not missed out entirely because Martin Potter and David McNeice have kindly reported on events in articles which are included in this edition.
This edition of the newsletter, in keeping with the season of festive indulgence, brings you a number extra-large helpings of food for thought : we hope you will think of it in terms of being a delicate dispute resolution tasting menu of varied delights!
The focus of this quarter’s newsletter is upon the Referral process itself. In the third of James Golden’s excellent Back to Basics series, readers will find a useful guide and refresher to the process by which parties can get their dispute into the hands of an adjudicator. This is a timely article coinciding as it does with the re-launch, during this August, of the Technology and Construction Bar Association’s Adjudication panel; details of this, together with the 2012 TECBAR Adjudication Rules, can be found in Calum Lamont’s article.
Unless you found yourself marooned on a desert island during 2012, it will not have passed your attention that the whole of the construction world suddenly got very excited in August. Contractors started to clink champagne glasses in celebration, but it had absolutely nothing to do with Team GB’s success at the Olympic Park. Indeed, whilst the contractors were celebrating, employers had started to panic. The reason…? Rumours were spreading that the TCC had given the green light to global claims.
When Glenn Godfrey and I first turned our minds to the content of this quarter’s newsletter it appeared that something rather unusual might have just taken place. In April, Mr Justice Ramsey indicated (albeit obiter) that there might, in some instances, be an entitlement to refer multiple disputes to adjudication. This would certainly be something of a dramatic change. In a blink of an eye, however, that possibility was extinguished by Mr Justice Akenhead. Details of these decisions can be found both in case note corner and in an article by Adam Temple discussing both cases.