McCarthy v TKM Builders Pty Ltd

In the case of McCarthy v TKM Builders Pty Ltd, the applicant, McCarthy, sought judicial review of a decision made by an adjudicator under the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017. The dispute involved the adjudication of a payment claim made by McCarthy against TKM Builders Pty Ltd. The applicant contested the adjudicator's decision on the grounds that the adjudicator did not have jurisdiction due to the applicant not being provided with a copy of the adjudication application.

The central legal issue before the court was whether the failure of TKM Builders Pty Ltd to provide McCarthy with a copy of the adjudication application deprived the adjudicator of jurisdiction. The court had to determine if the adjudication application was adequately served on McCarthy, considering the manner in which the documents were sent. Some of the adjudication application was emailed to McCarthy as an attachment, while other documents were contained in a Dropbox file within the body of the email.

The court considered that the adjudication application was indeed served on McCarthy, albeit in a non-traditional manner. The court reasoned that the essence of the adjudication application, which included all necessary documents, was communicated to McCarthy. Consequently, the failure to provide the application in a single, conventional format did not undermine the service of the application. The court held that the adjudicator did not lack jurisdiction due to the manner of service, and therefore, the adjudicator's decision was valid. The application for judicial review was dismissed.

The court ordered that McCarthy was to bring in minutes of order reflecting these reasons.