ADJUDICATORS AND APPARENT BIAS

AMEC Capital Projects Ltd v Whitefriars City Estates Ltd [2004] EWCA Civ 1418; (2004) 96 Con LR 164

The Court of Appeal in AMEC Capital Projects Ltd v Whitefriars City Estates Ltd [2004] EWCA Civ 1418; (2004) 96 Con LR 164 rejected the submission that an adjudicator’s decision should be set aside on the ground of apparent bias. The mere fact that the adjudicator had previously decided the matter in dispute between the parties was not of itself sufficient to establish apparent bias. Something more must be identified before a finding of apparent bias will be made. The courts will examine an allegation of breach of natural justice critically and it is only where the defendant has advanced a properly arguable objection based on apparent bias that he should be permitted to resist summary enforcement of the adjudicator’s award on that ground.