Claims under the Building and Construction Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW) (SOPA), the related responses (payment schedules) as well as disputes which can follow, can generally be very complicated to deal with, especially in terms of time and timing.
It is extremely important that the SOPA related steps as provided for under the SOPA regime are taken in a timely manner.
We at Papallo Kouchoo have been involved in drafting claims, payment schedules, and running the related adjudication aspects of the SOPA scheme.
However, we are especially adept in helping our clients in relation to appeals to the Supreme Court.
Our lawyers have significant experience in launching proper appeals in this jurisdiction and are experts at identifying the proper errors of adjudicators.
It is not easy to bring these appeals, because simple errors will not suffice: a party needs to prove that the adjudicator made a ‘jurisdictional error’ (e.g. the adjudicator acted beyond the power that they had).
Hence, and again, as is usually the case with all of our matters, we carefully assess the relative prospects of these kinds of matters before giving you the advice to proceed, in order to save you costs and expenses.
Some of these matters can settle before costs are expended on running a full-blown appeal, and so a very ‘strong showing’ at the time of the preparation of the documents for the Supreme Court is a must in order to ensure that the other party is at least motivated to enter negotiations.
At Papallo Kouchoo Lawyers, we do our utmost to uphold your rights and to ensure that your contractual rights, and your rights to the fees which you rightly earned in your projects, are safeguarded. We ensure that this is done in a cost-effective way.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us for an obligation free professional consultation.
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