The Supreme Court of Victoria has power to review an adjudicator's findings as to jurisdictional facts under the SOP Act, and the contrary suggestion in Grocon should not be followed. A payment claim that in substance seeks to recoup liquidated damages previously deducted from the contract sum is a claim for an excluded amount under s 10B(2) of the SOP Act, even if the claim does not expressly refer to liquidated damages. The availability of remittal as a remedy under the SOP Act was left open, but the court identified discretionary factors that would weigh against remittal including lapse of time and the Act's purpose of expeditious interim determination.
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