Treat Adjudicator´s Decision As Gospel: Uniting Church Case

The Supreme Court of Queensland has ruled that an adjudicator's decision in a building and construction dispute was final, even though the methodology used to make the decision was questionable.

The case, Uniting Church in Australia Property Trust (Qld) v Davenport & Anor, is a timely reminder to take care when preparing for adjudication. If an adjudicator makes a decision based on a certain methodology, the parties will be forced to treat that as final and binding.

Case Background

The applicant, the Uniting Church in Australia Property Trust, entered into two construction contracts with the second respondent, Hindmarsh Construction Queensland Pty Ltd. Two payment claims were made by Hindmarsh against Uniting Church, and Hindmarsh then invoked the adjudication mechanism for payment claims provided under the Building and Construction Industry Payments Act 2004 (Qld) (BCIPA). The first respondent, Philip Davenport, was appointed as the adjudicator.