Issue estoppel does not apply to adjudication decisions under the Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Act 2009 (ACT). The SOP Act contains a self-sufficient preclusion regime that displaces the common law doctrine. The appropriate conceptual framework for preventing re-agitation of decided matters under the Act is 'abuse of process' — either as an abuse of the court's process in entering judgment on a second adjudication, or as an abuse of the processes of the Act itself. Findings of fact by an adjudicator (such as the existence of a construction contract or the construction of its terms) do not bind subsequent adjudicators through issue estoppel; only valuations of work are protected from disturbance under s 24(4).
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 17 later cases that cite this judgment.
3 of the 17 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.