Adjudicators’ Fees: Money For Nothing?

Almost a year ago to the day, we reported on the case of  Systech v PC Harrington, a TCC judgment where Mr Justice Akenhead (the judge in charge of the TCC) held that an adjudicator was entitled to be paid his fees (calculated on an hourly basis), despite the fact that his decision was unenforceable.

In a judgment handed down today the Court of Appeal reversed Akenhead J's decision, and held that the adjudicator was not entitled to his fees, essentially because his decision was of no value to any party.  The reason the adjudicator's decision was unenforceable was because the adjudicator failed to afford natural justice to the parties, i.e. the adjudicator had (in a technical sense) misconducted the adjudication.