Celebrating The Opening Of Troy Legal

It is well established in QLD & NSW in relation to SOP Act legislation, that respondents can raise the misleading and deceptive conduct of claimants as a defence to a claimant’s summary judgment application seeking to enforce a payment claim. These defences are often raised when no payment schedule is served by the respondent within time and a deemed statutory debt in respect of the payment claim arises in favour of the claimant.

On 1 July 2024, s79 of the BIF Act was amended to clarify the obligations on applicants (following submission of an Adjudication Application to the QBCC) to give copies of specified documents to the respondent within 4 business days (July 2024 BIF Act amendments). Earlier this month, the July 2024 BIF Act amendments were considered by the Qld Supreme Court in the case of Platform Constructions.......

Payment Claims are not for Construction Work Alone - The NSW Court of Appeal recently considered a contractor’s appeal seeking to reinstate an Adjudication decision in its favour of approximately $10m after being voided by the primary judge. The primary judge considered the subject payment claim was not a valid for the purposes of the NSW SOP Act because it was not a claim for construction work (rather a claim for security improperly recovered by the principal) and voided the Adjudication decision in favour of the contractor.