In light of a number of recent High Court decisions, Andy Creer considers the approach of the Court when considering an application for a speedy trial.

Adjudication is a quick and comparatively cheap method of dispute resolution and for those reasons is attractive to insolvent companies seeking to recover debts. However, a respondent was likely to be able to restrain the insolvent company from referring the matter to adjudication on the basis that it would be futile to do so, since any positive decision was unlikely to be enforced as a result of the very fact of the company’s insolvency. Therefore, any award lacked practical utility. Following the decision of the Supreme Court in Bresco v Lonsdale, that is no longer the case.

Judgment of Kerr J. in Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council v Punj Lloyd Limited [2018] EWHC 3776