Many would be forgiven for thinking that the referral of adjudicators' decisions to the courts for the purposes of challenging the enforceability of those decisions was a thing of the past except in very limited circumstances. 

After all, the courts have made it clear thus far that they will only overturn the decision of an adjudicator where the adjudicator has either answered the wrong question put before him or he has breached the rules of natural justice in some way.

However, recently there has been a flurry of decisions from the English Courts where the parties have sought to challenge the enforceability of the adjudicator's decision on the basis that the adjudicator has 'breached' the time limits set down by The Scheme for Construction Contracts Regulations 1998 (the "Scheme").

The first of these cases is the case of Epping Electrical Limited v Briggs & Forrester (Plumbing Services) Limited which concerns paragraph 19 of the Scheme. Paragraph 19 provides that the adjudicator shall reach his decision not later than 28 days after the date of the Referral, subject of course to extensions being granted by the parties. 

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