McNab Developments (Qld) Pty Ltd v MAK Construction Services Pty Ltd

McNab Developments (Qld) Pty Ltd filed an application in the Supreme Court of Queensland to set aside an adjudicator’s decision that had awarded MAK Construction Services Pty Ltd a sum of money. The dispute arose from a subcontract for concreting and formwork services that McNab Developments had terminated. Following the termination, MAK Construction Services submitted a payment claim under the Building and Construction Industry Payments Act 2004 (Qld). This claim, however, referenced a date after the termination of the subcontract, which McNab Developments argued should have deprived the adjudicator of jurisdiction. The matter proceeded to adjudication, with the adjudicator ultimately deciding on the amount of the progress payment McNab Developments should make.

The primary legal issues the court needed to address were whether the adjudicator had jurisdiction given the incorrect reference date and whether there had been a jurisdictional error in the adjudicator’s decision. Further, the court had to determine if the adjudicator had assessed the claim on the merits and correctly identified the source of the legal entitlement of the claimed amounts allowed. The applicant argued that the adjudicator had no jurisdiction to make a determination because of the incorrect reference date, while the respondent contended that the adjudicator had assessed the claim on the merits and acted within his jurisdiction.

The court found that the adjudicator had jurisdiction to assess the claim on the merits despite the incorrect reference date. The court reasoned that the adjudicator had correctly identified the source of the legal entitlement for the claimed amounts and had thus acted within his jurisdiction. The court dismissed the applicant’s application to set aside the adjudicator’s decision, holding that there had been no jurisdictional error. The court ordered that submissions on costs be filed by specified dates.

The final orders of the court were that the originating application by McNab Developments to set aside the adjudicator’s decision was dismissed. Additionally, the court specified deadlines for the filing and serving of submissions on costs by both parties.