Adjudication Matters Christmas Quiz 2019

2nd December 2019

Season’s greetings from Walker Morris!

Our Adjudication Matters Christmas Quiz is back for you to test out your adjudication case law knowledge and be in with a chance of winning a bottle of bubbly for your festive celebrations!

For some helpful hints, take a look back at this year’s Adjudication Matters publications at:

https://www.walkermorris.co.uk/publications/?category=construction-engineering

Submit your answers to Juliet Gough at juliet.gough@walkermorris.co.uk or by post to the below address, by 5pm on Friday 20 December 2019:

Juliet Gough
Walker Morris LLP
33 Wellington Street
Leeds
LS1 4DL

We will publish the correct answers on Monday 23 December 2019.

In the event of a tie, those with the highest scores will be entered into a draw to determine the winner!

Good luck and Merry Christmas!

Questions

1. Where an adjudicator makes a decision on a point not put forward by either party during their submissions, this may constitute a breach of natural justice and can lead to the decision not being enforced. True or false? (1 mark)
2. What does the “slip rule” allow an arbitrator or an adjudicator to do? (2 marks)
   • (a) To make site visits or inspections in order to better inform his decision
   • (b) To resign from the dealing with the specific case (e.g. due to insufficient evidence, lack of technical expertise or insufficient time)
   • (c) To correct any accidental errors, mistakes or omissions i.e. “slips” in judgments or orders
3. Within adjudication proceedings, if a party is incorrectly referred to by its trading name (rather than its legal name) this can still be sufficient so as to confirm its identity for the purposes of the dispute so that the adjudicator’s decision may be enforced. True or false? (1 mark)
4. The TCC’s decision in Gosvenor London Limited v Aygun Aluminium UK Limited [2018] EWCA Civ 2695 has established which additional ground for seeking a stay of enforcing an adjudicator’s award? (2 marks)
   • (a) The probable inability of the claimant to repay the judgment sum (awarded by the adjudicator and enforced by way of summary judgment) at the end of the substantive trial or arbitration hearing
   • (b) If the evidence demonstrates there is a real risk that any judgment would go unsatisfied by reason of the claimant organising its financial affairs with the purpose of dissipating/disposing of the adjudication sum so that it would not be available to be repaid
   • (c) If the claimant is insolvent liquidation or there is no dispute on the evidence that the claimant is insolvent
5. An Adjudicator’s failure to consider witness evidence will always constitute a breach of natural justice even if it is considered that the evidence which has not been considered is not crucial to the case. True or false? (1 mark)
6. What did Coulson LJ find in Bresco Electrical Services Limited [2019] EWCA Civ 27 regarding jurisdictional challenges? (2 marks)
   • (a) That a party cannot rely upon a vaguely worded general reservation at adjudication in order to leave open an opportunity to raise specific jurisdictional points later on to resist enforcement
   • (b) For a waiver to occur in a natural justice context, a party must be aware of the right to challenge the adjudicator’s decision and take a “clear and unequivocal step” to show it did not intend to rely on the natural justice challenge
   • (c) In the absence of an express reservation to make a jurisdictional challenge, the respondent appeared to be content to be bound by the adjudicator’s decision and was therefore bound by it
7. If a company has the benefit of an adjudicator’s decision which has not yet been enforced, the right to enforce the decision may be lost if that company enters into a CVA. True or false? (1 mark)
8. What does the term “approbation and reprobation” mean in the context of adjudication? (2 marks)
   • (a) That a party can argue that an adjudicator’s decision is valid (and take the benefit of it) and at the same time seek to challenge the validity of the decision (or part of it)
   • (b) That a party cannot both argue that an adjudicator’s decision is valid (and take the benefit of it) and at the same time seek to challenge the validity of the decision (or part of it)
9. What is the duty of natural justice? (1 mark)
10. How many presents were given in total in the 12 Days of Christmas? (1 mark)