In August 2007, Mr and Mrs Whitehouse (‘the Whitehouses’) engaged Westshield to carry out work at a house in Cheshire. The works finished late and Westshield thereafter claimed sums for variations and delays. Due to financial difficulties, in late 2010 Westshield decided to seek a Company Voluntary Arrangement (‘CVA’) for itself and a ‘Supervisor’ was appointed to run the CVA.

In March 2011, Westshield commenced adjudication proceedings against the Whitehouses. The Whitehouses reserved their position on jurisdiction and raised a counterclaim for negligence. The adjudicator awarded Westshield £132,667.56 inclusive of interest. The Whitehouses did not pay and instead filed a claim against Westshield with the Supervisor.

Westshield issued enforcement proceedings. The Whitehouses raised a number of jurisdictional objections but also stated that if the adjudicator’s decision was binding it simply established a debt; but the CVA arrangement applied to enable the counterclaim to be deployed and the CVA Supervisor had to deal with that first. They also argued that, if summary judgment was given on the enforcement of the adjudicator’s award then there should be a stay of execution by reason of the financial position of Westshield.

The Judge decided that the adjudicator’s decision was binding but declined to order summary judgment. Instead he decided that proceedings should be stayed pending the outcome of the Supervisor’s account. The Judge left open whether, following the accounting exercise, Westshield might issue a further summary judgment application.