No Enforcement Of A Prior Adjudication Determination ("AD") Superseded By A Subsequent AD

Can a prior AD still be enforced if it had effectively been superseded by a subsequent AD which took into account the prior AD? This was the question raised before the SGHC in United Integrated Services Pte Ltd v Civil Tech Pte Ltd and another [2019] SGHC 32.

On 23 October 2018, the respondent subcontractor obtained an AD in its favour ("AD1"), by which the applicant main contractor was to pay the respondent "$1,369,987.02 plus interests and costs". The respondent was subsequently granted leave to enforce AD1. However, shortly thereafter, before the respondent could successfully enforce AD1, a second AD ("AD2") determined that no amount was payable by the applicant to the respondent as the adjudicated amount was "a negative sum of $1,176,050.67". In arriving at his determination, the adjudicator had not only adopted the valuation in AD1, but also considered the claims for work done, liquidated damages and back-charges which were not before the adjudicator in AD1.