{"id":9436,"date":"2016-12-12T13:06:54","date_gmt":"2016-12-12T02:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.thomsonreuters.com.au\/journals\/?p=9436"},"modified":"2024-07-10T06:52:53","modified_gmt":"2024-07-10T06:52:53","slug":"forever-young-expert-determination-in-the-construction-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.thomsonreuters.com.au\/journals\/2016\/12\/12\/forever-young-expert-determination-in-the-construction-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Forever young? Expert determination in the construction industry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the context of a range of available models competing with each other as alternatives to litigation for resolving commercial disputes in the construction industry \u00e2\u20ac\u201c driven in part by court-led demand for expedition in litigation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Leigh Duthie in the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.thomsonreuters.com.au\/journals\/category\/journals\/building-and-construction-law-journal\/\">Building and Construction Law Journal<\/a><\/em> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westlaw.com.au\/maf\/api\/tocLocatorVM?ndd=1&amp;qlink-label=No+6%2C+2016&amp;stid=std-anz-tocbrowse&amp;originates-from-link=false&amp;ao=o.AUNZ_AU_JOURNALS_TOC%7C%7CIfca6857cb84311e6b606e78a75e9f1e9&amp;ntocview=Ifca6857cb84311e6b606e78a75e9f1e9&amp;dsu=AUNZ_AU_JLBUILD&amp;sortid=Citation&amp;tocguid=AUNZ_AU_JOURNALS_TOC%7C%7CIfca6857cb84311e6b606e78a75e9f1e9&amp;searchds=AUNZ_SEARCHALL&amp;productAO=AUNZ_TOC%7C%7CanzjourAUbuildconstlaw\">Vol 32 No 6<\/a>) considers the future of expert determination as one alternative dispute resolution model.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Where does it stand,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he asks, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153in the panoply of commercial dispute resolution options?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Expert determination is a largely private process in which parties to a contract agree to refer disputes or issues to an independent expert for determination. They are commonly used in the construction law area to determine such issues as: the entitlement of parties to variations, time extensions, delay claims, and the costs of outstanding works prior to practical completion of a construction project.<\/p>\n<p>Being \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a quick and cost-effective\u00e2\u20ac\u009d method of resolving commercial disputes accounts for the continuing popularity of using expert determinations in the construction industry, argues Duthie. However, \u00c2\u00a0it is the very advantages that expert determinations promise for the resolution of disputes that, contradictorily, cause\u00c2\u00a0some parties to try avoid implementing expert determination clauses in contracts.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Parties may be understandably concerned at the prospect of a final and binding decision of potentially multi-million dollar disputes being made informally and by a non-legal arbiter,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Duthie.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, expert determinations have been subject to legal challenges.\u00c2\u00a0 Duthie conducts an extensive review of such challenges, the grounds for which have included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the nature of the dispute precludes its determination by an appointed expert (eg where it is legally complex);<\/li>\n<li>the expert determination agreement was not valid (eg the intended process was not clearly identified);<\/li>\n<li>the expert failed to take into consideration the relevant law; and,<\/li>\n<li>the expert failed to provide sufficient reasons for the determination.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Notwithstanding these considerations, there would appear to be much to recommend expert determinations for the resolution of commercial disputes within the construction industry. Duthie notes their particular effectiveness when applied to single, fact-based issues and in resolving technical disputes.<\/p>\n<p>He concludes that, like Peter Pan, expert determination does not need to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153grow up\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and change, because of its inherent utility as a means of alternative dispute resolution \u00e2\u20ac\u201c its informality, speed, and low cost. His proviso is, however, that expert determination clauses in construction contracts be prepared well: that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153at the point of drafting and negotiating\u00e2\u20ac\u009d there is clear consideration and articulation of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the purpose, process, and effect, of a determination\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n<p>For insights and analysis bridging the theory and practice of building and construction law, you can get your copy of\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0<em>Building and Construction Law Journal\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.thomsonreuters.com.au\/journals\/subscribe-or-purchase\/\">here<\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>You may also be interested in<em> <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.thomsonreuters.com.au\/journals\/category\/journals\/australasian-dispute-resolution-journal\/\">Australasian Dispute Resolution Journal<\/a><\/em>, our key resource for staying up to date in the area of alternative dispute resolution.<\/p>\n<p><em>Building and Construction Law Journal<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0articles are available on request by\u00c2\u00a0completing the\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.thomsonreuters.com.au\/journals\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/08\/Thomson-Reuters-Order-Form-AU-OF-v3.1-08-16.doc\">Individual Article Sale\u00c2\u00a0<\/a>order form\u00c2\u00a0and emailing it to\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:tlranz.journal.orders@thomsonreuters.com\">tlranz.journal.orders@thomsonreuters.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the context of a range of available models competing with each other as alternatives to litigation for resolving commercial disputes in the construction industry \u00e2\u20ac\u201c driven in part by court-led demand for expedition in litigation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Leigh Duthie in the Building and Construction Law Journal (Vol 32 No 6) considers the future of expert [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,38],"tags":[51,1880,4201,40,4331,9627,9628,6991,9629,1242,9538,9630,9631],"class_list":["post-9436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-building-and-construction-law-journal","category-journals","tag-adrj","tag-alternative-dispute-resolution","tag-australasian-dispute-resolution-journal-2","tag-bcl","tag-building-and-construction-law-journal-2","tag-commercial-dispute-resolution-options","tag-construction-industry-disputes","tag-contracts","tag-delay-claims","tag-expert-determination","tag-leigh-duthie","tag-time-extensions","tag-variations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.thomsonreuters.com.au\/journals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.thomsonreuters.com.au\/journals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.thomsonreuters.com.au\/journals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.thomsonreuters.com.au\/journals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.thomsonreuters.com.au\/journals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.thomsonreuters.com.au\/journals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.thomsonreuters.com.au\/journals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.thomsonreuters.com.au\/journals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.thomsonreuters.com.au\/journals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.thomsonreuters.com.au\/journals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}