Article by Philip Woods, Ian Briggs, Richard Crawford and Peter Wood,
Is a judgement debt obtained in respect of a decision of an adjudicator sufficient to issue a statutory demand as a precursor to winding up proceedings?
Several recent New South Wales court decisions have set aside or varied statutory demands for judgement debts obtained under the NSW Security of Payment Act, generally on the basis of some set-off or other genuine dispute, even if it has not been raised in the adjudication proceedings.
Potentially, these decisions would frustrate the primary objective of the security of payments acts by allowing a party to avoid complying with an adjudication decision.
However, a decision handed down last week by the Queensland Supreme Court in Peekhrst Pty Ltd v Glenzeil Pty Ltd [2007] QSC 159 suggests that Queensland courts may be more willing to allow parties to make statutory demands in respect of judgement debts obtained under the security of payment acts.
