Apr Structural Steel Pty Ltd v Devco Project and Construction Management Pty Ltd

Apr Structural Steel Pty Ltd brought an action against Devco Project and Construction Management Pty Ltd in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, seeking recovery of outstanding payments under a construction contract. The defendant had failed to issue payment schedules in response to payment claims made by the plaintiff, leading to disputes over the amounts due. The plaintiff argued that the defendant's failure to respond amounted to an acceptance of the claims, while the defendant contended that certain amounts were excluded from payment due to contractual defences, such as incomplete works and variations not yet certified.

The court was required to determine whether the defendant's failure to issue payment schedules constituted an acceptance of the payment claims, the validity of the defendant's defences, and the correct calculation of amounts due based on the reference dates. The court also needed to address the issue of whether the defendant could rely on certain reference dates to calculate the amounts due.

The court held that the defendant's failure to issue payment schedules did not amount to an acceptance of the payment claims, as the contract required the defendant to either accept or reject the claims within a specified period. The court found that the defendant's defences were valid, and certain amounts were excluded from payment. The court also determined that the defendant could rely on certain reference dates to calculate the amounts due, as these dates were clearly specified in the contract. Based on these findings, the court ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiff the amounts due, less the valid defences and exclusions.