BRESCO ELECTRICAL SERVICES LTD (IN LIQUIDATION) v MICHAEL J LONSDALE (ELECTRICAL) LTD

[2020] UKSC 25, Supreme Court, Lord Reed, Lord Briggs, Lord Kitchin, Lord Hamblen and Lord Leggatt, 17 June 2020

Insolvency – Adjudication – Impact of voluntary liquidation on entitlement to bring claim in an adjudication – Jurisdiction and questions of “practical utility” or “futility”

The parties entered into a contract on 21 August 2014, under which Bresco agreed to perform electrical installation work for Lonsdale. Bresco left the site in December 2014 with each party maintaining that the other had wrongfully terminated the contract between them. On 12 March 2015 Bresco entered into creditors’ voluntary liquidation. On 18 June 2018, Bresco served on Lonsdale a notice of an intention to refer a dispute to adjudication. The dispute which it sought to refer to adjudication was its claim that Lonsdale had wrongfully repudiated the contract between the parties and that it was entitled to be paid some £220,000.