[2006] EWHC 848 (TCC) 6 March 2006. K was engaged by C to carry out refurbishment and rebuilding works under a contract which provided for the appointment of an adjudicator under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, s108. A number of references to adjudication were made, in one of which C sought to rely on expert evidence to resist a claim for loss and expenditure. The adjudicator disregarded the evidence on the grounds that it was new evidence which was not known to the parties when the dispute crystallised, and made an award in K's favour. C refused to pay, contending that by wrongfully refusing to consider its expert evidence, the adjudicator had committed a clear breach of natural justice. K brought proceedings to enforce the award. "Held" the decision by the adjudicator to disregard the evidence could not render his decision unenforceable. If an adjudicator refused to consider evidence which, on his analysis of the facts or law, was irrelevant, it was neither a breach of the rules of natural justice nor a failure to consider relevant material. If the adjudicators analysis was erroneous, it might follow that he ought to have considered the evidence; the possibility of this type of error, however, was inherent in the adjudication system, and was not a ground for refusing to enforce the adjudicator's decision.

See L145869