Adjudication and company voluntary arrangements

Henry Construction Projects Ltd v ProMEP Ltd [2024] EWHC 1825 (TCC)

In Henry Construction Projects Ltd v ProMEP Ltd [2024] EWHC 1825 (TCC), Jefford J held that the claimant to the Part 7 proceedings was entitled to summary judgment in order to enforce the decision of an adjudicator. The defendant's attempt to resist enforcement on the ground that the claimant had fraudulently misrepresented counsel's advice in the summary which it had provided to the adjudicator was rejected and it was held that the adjudicator had been entitled to conclude that the insolvency set-off rules did not apply to a company voluntary arrangement. In relation to the Part 8 proceedings, which were held at a later date and where the position of the parties was reversed, it was held that the claimant (being the defendant to the Part 7 proceedings) was not entitled to a declaration that the claim which had succeeded in the adjudication had been settled by the company voluntary arrangement. As a matter of construction of the company voluntary arrangement, it was held that the claim had not been settled.