ACN 060 559 971 Pty Ltd v O'Brien

ACN 060 559 971 Pty Ltd sought judicial review of a decision made by an adjudicator under the Building and Construction Industry Payments Act 2004 (Qld). The applicant, a contractor, had claimed costs associated with delays or disruptions, which were allowed by the adjudicator. The dispute centred on a clause in the building contract that made the principal liable for the contractor's delay or disruption costs if an extension of time was granted due to delays caused by the principal, superintendent, or those under their control. The key legal issue was whether the adjudicator correctly interpreted this clause, particularly whether the principal's liability depended on determining what extensions of time should have been granted for the principal's delays.

The court examined the clause in question and noted that the adjudicator's interpretation did not require a determination of what extensions of time for the principal’s delays should have been granted. Instead, the adjudicator's construction of the clause effectively disregarded this requirement. The court held that this interpretation was an error of law as it did not align with the plain meaning of the contractual terms. The court found that the adjudicator's decision contained a material error because it failed to properly address the dependency of the principal's liability on the grant of an extension of time.

Consequently, the court allowed the application for judicial review and quashed the adjudicator's decision. The matter was to be remitted for reconsideration by a different adjudicator, pending further submissions from the parties to address the identified errors.