An adjudication has been started against us. What does Counterclaim Defence do first?
We fix the timetable first, writing down every date from the claim and the adjudicator's directions.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
Each date gets its time of day and how the response must be delivered. We set our own deadlines at least 2 working days before the real ones. We confirm the timetable to you in writing before any of the answer is built. If the adjudication timetable is already running, we agree the stages and fees on the first day. Send us the referral exactly as it arrived, and the directions the day they arrive. We then test each head of the claim: its arithmetic, quantities, rates, source records, cause and notices, and whether it repeats sums already deducted. Each head is rated supported, disputed or awaiting their evidence, with the reason traced to a document. What is conceded, disputed or offered is your decision. The money side of the response then goes to whoever is running the adjudication for you, by our own deadline. It comes with the Scott schedule (their figures set beside yours) and the bundle index, so there is time to work it into the response and check it. Whether the adjudicator can decide the dispute, who is liable and the procedure all stay with your solicitor or representative. Any delay analysis stays with a programming expert.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A cladding subcontractor receives a referral on a Thursday afternoon claiming £210,000 for delay costs and defects. The directions require its response in 7 days.
What happens
- The referral and the directions are forwarded that evening, exactly as they arrived.
- Every date is written down with the time of day and how it must be delivered. Our deadline for the figures is set 2 working days before the real one. The timetable, stages and fees are confirmed in writing the same day.
- Each head is tested and rated supported, disputed or awaiting the main contractor's evidence, with the reason traced to a document.
- The director decides which heads to concede and which to dispute.
- The figures, the Scott schedule and the bundle index go to the subcontractor's representative on our deadline.
The outcome
The representative has the figures 2 working days before the response is due, with time to work them in and check them.
To have a claim made against you tested and answered inside the adjudication timetable, see our Counterclaim Defence service.