There are not many adjudicators I would trust to do what this one did. He disagreed with both parties’ arguments and decided the dispute on what he saw as correct. His award touched £9m. You can bet your bottom dollar the adjudicator could foresee the losing party refusing to pay up, then going to court and attempting to persuade the judge that the adjudicator was not permitted to “do his own thing” and throw out the decision. Then, if that happened, the adjudicator nominating body would get very agitated and climb all over this adjudicator and give him a very bad time. So much easier for the adjudicator to “avoid trouble” and trim his decision… soften the blow. 

Yes, that’s what goes on with some. It’s not deliberate; it’s the human instinct to protect your backside. Some, a few, don’t do that. They have courage, confidence and are not intimidated by the prospect of an ear-bending from the nominating body.

Now, let me tell you what happened in this dispute and adjudication between Coventry & Warwickshire Development Partnership LLP vs Avison Young (UK) Ltd. The spoiler is that Avison Young (AY), as consultant project manager, issued payment certificates that were eventually found to be completely overvalued. Coventry & Warwickshire Development Partnership LLP (CWDP) had paid the builder; the builder became insolvent. CWDP couldn’t get the money back, so it accused AY of negligence. 

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