Adjudication: When A Dispute Crystallizes

Until relatively recently adjudication was plagued by "no dispute" arguments. Responding parties in adjudications would say that the adjudicator lacked jurisdiction to make a decision because the claim referred to him had not crystallized into a dispute when the adjudication began (the adjudicator only being able to decide a dispute). The argument sometimes succeeded only when a decision came to be enforced (rendering it void) however vigorously the claim was defended in the adjudication.

A judgment given last Tuesday adopts a common sense application of the now established case law on when a dispute crystallizes.

A contractor referred to adjudication a dispute about its entitlement to payment under an amended JCT 1998 With Contractor's Design form. Its claim was based on an application for payment and the employer’s failure to issue a payment notice. While section 110 of the Construction Act specifies no sanction for not giving a payment notice, the JCT 1998 WCD form does by