Castle Constructions Pty Ltd v Napoli Excavations and Civil Pty Ltd [2023] NSWSC 348

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Castle Constructions Pty Ltd v Napoli Excavations and Civil Pty Ltd [2023] NSWSC 348 Hearing dates: 5 April 2023 Date of orders: 5 April 2023 Decision date: 05 April 2023 Jurisdiction: Equity Before: Darke J Decision: Adjudication determination declared to be void and of no effect. Catchwords: BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION – Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW) ("the Act") – adjudication determination – whether adjudication determination is affected by jurisdictional error – whether the adjudicator failed to consider all submissions duly made – held that the adjudicator failed to consider a submission duly made in support of the payment schedule as required by s 22(2)(d) of the Act – held further that the failure was material – jurisdictional error established – declaration made that adjudication determination is void and of no effect Legislation Cited: Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW), ss 13(1C), 20(2B), 22(2)(d) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 6.1, 10.14 Cases Cited: BCFK Holdings Pty Ltd v Rork Projects Pty Ltd [2022] NSWSC 1706 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Castle Constructions Pty Ltd (Plaintiff) Napoli Excavations and Civil Pty Ltd (First Defendant) Adjudicate Today Pty Ltd (Second Defendant) Representation: Counsel: Mr D S Weinberger (Plaintiff)

Solicitors: McLachlan Thorpe Partners (Plaintiff) Richard Green Construction Lawyers (Second Defendant) File Number(s): 2022/378535 Publication restriction: None