Hemmant’s List Member, Mark Ambrose QC, successfully applied to the Supreme Court (from an Adjudicati0n) in the matter of Livingstone Shire Council v EarthTec Pty Ltd & Ors [2018] QSC 271, obtaining a Judgment rejecting the contention that s.26(2) of the Qld Payments Act contains a restriction on legislation (in this case s.11(6) of the Subcontractors’ Charge Act) which may be referred to in properly made submissions of a Respondent (or, for that matter, a claimant) to an adjudication.
In particular, the Court found that the legislative discharge found in s.11(6) of the Subcontractors’ Charges Act, with respect to the payment of money under a contract when that money was paid into Court after receipt of a notice of charge, was not diminished by operation of the Payments Act.
The Court also found that the adjudicator, in construing s.26(2)(a) as containing a prohibition on considering legislation not referred to in that subsection, had misdirected himself as to his obligations under the Payments Act and thereby failed to take into account a mandatory obligation (being the submissions with respect to the Subcontractors’ Charges Act). The error was, therefore, jurisdictional with the result that the adjudication decision (to the extent of that error) was void.
Adjudiction is an effecient alternative to Court Trials, however, seeking advice (as early as possible) from the right barrister on complex matters of Law is critical.
The full judgment can be read at: https://www.queenslandjudgments.com.au/case/id/313534