Insite Construction Services Pty Ltd v Daniels Civil Pty Ltd & Anor

[2023] QSC 33

Supreme Court of Queensland

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For Australian Law.

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Contracts
2. › Building, engineering and related contracts
3. › Remuneration
4. › Statutory regulation of entitlement to and recovery of progress payments
5. › Adjudication of payment claims
6. › Whether adjudicator committed jurisdictional error
7. › Whether adjudicator denied procedural fairness in determining reference date argument
8. › Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (Qld), ch 3, ss 67, 69, 75, 76, 79, 82, 88
1. Contracts
2. › Building, engineering and related contracts
3. › Remuneration
4. › Statutory regulation of entitlement to and recovery of progress payments
5. › Adjudication of payment claims
6. › Adjudicator's function in deciding adjudicated amount
7. › Whether adjudicator entitled to accept claimant's uncontested valuation where no valid payment schedule given
8. › Whether adjudicator required to independently value work
9. › Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (Qld), ss 64, 70, 71, 72, 88
1. Administrative Law
2. › Jurisdictional error
3. › Adjudicators under security of payment legislation
4. › Whether adjudicators are administrative tribunals or anomalous tribunals for purposes of jurisdictional error
5. › Scope of jurisdictional error applicable to anomalous tribunals
6. › Adequacy of reasons as jurisdictional error
1. Administrative Law
2. › Procedural fairness
3. › Content of obligation in statutory adjudication context
4. › Whether adjudicator decided issue on basis not raised by parties
5. › Whether denial of procedural fairness was material

Quick Take

Where a respondent fails to give a valid payment schedule containing reasons that challenge either the fact that work was done or the claimant's valuation, an adjudicator under the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (Qld) may conclude those matters are impliedly admitted and accept the claimant's uncontested valuation without independent inquiry. Epoca is not authority for the broader proposition that an adjudicator can simply award the total amount claimed because no payment schedule has been given. The obiter statements of Hodgson JA in Coordinated Construction regarding an adjudicator's obligation to independently assess the merits of a claim were not applied to the Queensland Act.