Bathurst Resources Ltd v L & M Coal Holdings Ltd [2021] NZSC 85
The Supreme Court in Bathurst Resources Ltd v L & M Coal Holdings Ltd [2021] NZSC 85 has provided important guidance on how extrinsic evidence and implied terms are used to aid interpretation of contracts.
The Court has agreed that the approach to be taken on interpretation of written contracts is governed by the law of contract and is an objective task. The Court also confirmed that in principle, extrinsic evidence, such as the background context, evidence of prior negotiations and evidence of subsequent conduct, may be admissible when interpreting a contract. The Court has said that relevance and probative value are the touchstones for admissibility of such evidence, in accordance with the framework provided by the Evidence Act 2006. This means, for example, that a blanket rule rendering evidence of pre-contractual negotiations inadmissible is not justifiable.
The Court has found with implying of terms into a contract beyond those expressly agreed, such as to give business efficacy to a contract, an unexpressed term can only be implied if it is strictly necessary, in that the term would spell out what the contract, read against the relevant background, must be understood to mean.
Cost certainty for resolving building and construction disputes: Extension to the BDT Adjudication Low Value Claim Scheme
By Belinda Green. One of the main barriers to dispute resolution is cost: no one wants to risk spending more than the amount they recover. With inflation and construction costs always on the rise, BDT is extending its Low Value Claim (LVC) Scheme for...
Construction Contracts – Enforcement of Debts Due and Mandatory Alternative Dispute Resolution Clauses
By Melissa Perkin. The recent High Court decision in Hellaby Resources Services Limited v Body Corporate 197281 [2021] NZHC 554 is of particular interest in the construction sector for several key reasons: it is a rare example where a stay of enforcement of summary...
The Enforceability of Liquidated Damages Clauses
Author: Melissa Perkin Liquidated damages clauses, a common feature of construction contracts, stipulate the amount of money payable as damages for loss caused by a breach of contract, irrespective of the actual loss suffered. A recent United Kingdom decision of the...
Building and Construction Under COVID-19 Alert Level 4
For information and guidance on what building and construction work can be done at Alert Level 4: · Health and Safety protocols at different alert levels, visit CHASNZ COVID-19 and working at the current alert level (chasnz.org); and · COVID-19 guidance...
Class-action lawsuit against Harditex cladding fails
By Melissa Perkin. A second class-action lawsuit[1] brought by a group of 144 homeowners whose homes were clad in Harditex fibre-cement cladding, has failed. The homeowners alleged that Harditex manufacturer James Hardie, between 1987 – 2005, knowingly sold defective...
What types of disputes can be referred to adjudication?
The types of dispute that can be referred to adjudication are listed below: Default liability claim These are claims for technical non-compliance with the payment regime under the Act. Where a valid payment claim has been served by a payee on a payer and the payer...
What are the cost implications of challenging an arbitral award through the courts?
By Maria Cole. A recent decision of the Singapore High Court shone a spotlight on indemnity costs and when they will, and won’t, be granted following the unsuccessful challenge of an arbitral award. The decision highlighted the opposite principles in place between...
Proposed Changes to the Construction Retentions Regime
Author: Hannah Stanley, Building Disputes Tribunal Registrar Despite the introduction of the retentions regime into the Construction Contracts Act 2002 (the Act) in 2017[1], many subcontractor retentions have still been left unprotected and various gaps in the...
Show Me the Money: Seven Things to Remember When Preparing a Payment Claim
By Amy McDonald Are you still waiting on an invoice to be paid that you sent ages ago? Have you done all the work but have nothing to show for it? Unpaid invoices can have a devastating impact on builders and subcontractors. Fortunately, the Construction Contracts Act...
BuildLaw Issue 42
June 2021CONTENTS To what extent are adjudication decisions binding on subsequent adjudicators? Aussie Rules - the prevention principle and the duty of good faith What sets jurisdiction in construction disputes? Case in Brief: BNZ Branch Properties Ltd v Wellington...
Overhaul of Resource Management System
By Belinda Green. “Urban areas are struggling to keep pace with population growth and the need for affordable housing. Water quality is deteriorating, biodiversity is diminishing and there is an urgent need to reduce carbon emissions and adapt to climate...
Experts’ duties and conflicting interests – Secretariat Consulting Pte Ltd v A Company
By Belinda Green. Experts may look to amend their terms of engagement, as the English Court of Appeal finds a conflict of interest clause applied to a global brand, despite involving separate experts in different locations, contracting via separate legal entities....
Payment Claims: using Xero to send out your invoices? Don’t forget the important notice
By Catherine Green. Do you use Xero to send out your invoices? Make sure they are compliant payment claims under the Construction Contracts Act 2002 (Act). The default payment regime under the Act is an efficient and effective way of getting your invoices paid....
The Award of Enforcement Costs under the Construction Contracts Act 2002
By Melissa Lin and Nashi Ali. Payees intending to recover costs from payers during the course of legal proceedings may want to reconsider issuing a statutory demand in the first instance and seek an adjudicator’s determination instead. Cubo Projects Ltd v S&S...
High-Risk Cladding Banned In Multiple Jurisdictions
By Nashi Ali. Following numerous high-rise tragedies across the globe, cladding panels constructed from aluminium composite and polyethylene have been deemed “high risk” and have subsequently been banned in a bid to reduce the risk of fire spread in high-rise...
When will (and won’t) implied warranties expand the scope of works?
By Maria Cole. The New South Wales Court of Appeal confirms statutory warranties can expand a scope of works, but the bargain that has been agreed to still holds sway. Oikos Constructions Pty Limited v Ostin [2020] NSWCA 358 (Oikos Constructions) In Oikos...
BuildLaw Issue 41
March 2021CONTENTS When will (and won't) implied warranties expand the scope of works? High risk cladding banned in multiple jurisdictions Paying the price: the risk of not agreeing to the cost of construction works at the outset of a project Case in brief:...
Construction Disputes – Are they on the rise?
A survey of construction industry members by Russell McVeagh has revealed that almost 61 percent of respondents are predicting an increase in the number of disputes. Some causes of a rise are within parties’ control, such as relationships, risk allocation and contract...
BuildLaw Issue 40
In this issue we look at the basis on which interest can be claimed in construction contract disputes and we discuss the changes announced by the government in April to stimulate the construction and infrastructure sectors post COVID-19. We feature an insightful...
Bought a house – got problems – no one wants to know?
Author: Hannah Stanley, Building Disputes Tribunal Registrar As a homeowner, discovering structural defects in your home is the last thing you want and most wonder where to go from there in terms of their rights and how to remedy the situation. The Courts are often a...
Assessing sums payable in the absence of a contract: Electrix Limited v The Fletcher Construction Company Limited [2020] NZHC 918
Authored by Michael Taylor, Joanna Trezise (Russell McVeagh), and Belinda Green (NZDRC) In a decision released on 6 May 2020, the High Court ordered The Fletcher Construction Company Limited to pay its subcontractor Electrix Limited about $7.5 million, plus GST and...
BuildLaw Issue 39
In this issue we look at the government guidelines for NZS3910:2013 contracts affected by Covid-19 Alert level 4 restrictions. We discuss adjudication injunctions caused by the virus and how they may help to provide some clarity to a rather cloudy area of law. We look...
BuildLaw Issue 38
December 2019 In this issue we look at a dispute over a home renovation contract that travelled all the way to the South Australian Supreme Court, highlighting the risks of not dealing with disputes promptly. We examine the ‘Emerald Book’ released earlier this year by...
Adjudication: calculating time over the Christmas period 2019-2020
What are the non-working days over the Christmas period this year?
The builder’s right to fix
Introduction When a dispute over defective building work turns ugly, the owner is sometimes tempted to refuse the builder the opportunity of returning to rectify the defects. There are risks in this course. This update considers a recent NSW Supreme Court decision...
The ‘collaborative’ future of construction and infrastructure procurement
Framework Contracting, that is well planned from the outset, can be an effective tool to deliver an entire programme of infrastructure with benefits for all sides. While it is simply one way to address resource constraints and the need for fair apportionment of risk...
Case In-Brief: Hybrid contracts and the payment provisions of the Construction Act
The Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1998 (the Act) applies to “construction operations”. Where a contract relates to both “construction operations” and non-construction operations, the question arises of how payment mechanisms apply to construction...
BuildLaw Issue 37
October 2019 In this issue, we look at a NSW Supreme Court decision in White Constructions Pty Ltd v PBS Holdings Pty Ltd [2019] which found that the claimant, despite using an expert programmer, failed to sufficiently prove that a delay by the respondent caused delay...
The Supreme Court reinstatement is not a right that can be assigned
The Supreme Court has had the final say on the status of 'on sold' earthquake damaged properties insured by IAG at the time of the Canterbury earthquakes. In a judgment released yesterday, the Supreme Court by 3:2 majority, decided that owners of on sold properties...
Contractual appendices: ignore at your peril
Recently, a subcontractor in the UK was relieved of adverse ground conditions risk, despite contract amendments that sought to allocate that risk to the subcontractor- and it all hinged on an analysis of appendices to the contract. Appending documents to a contract...
New Government Procurement Rules Announced (4th Edition)
The 4th edition of the Government Procurement Rules (Rules) were published this month. They are the good practice standards for government procurement, and were last substantially revised in March 2015. The Rules apply to all public service departments, police,...
Building Law reforms: Raising the bar across the sector
By the Minister for Building and Construction, Jenny Salesa I’m proud of our building and construction industry, and the hard-working individuals that fill the wide and varied roles that make up the sector. It’s our fifth-largest industry by GDP and fourth-largest...
BuildLaw Issue 36
July 2019 In this issue we feature an article by the honourable Minister for Building and Construction, Jenny Salesa, with an invaluable insight on the proposed Building Law Reform Programme. In Case in Brief, Jeremy Glover makes a commentary on two recent...
BuildLaw Issue 35
April 2019 In this issue, we feature an article on the warning apartment owners may take from the recent Court of Appeal decision in Body Corporate S73368 v Otway. This decision creates some financial uncertainty for owners who could now be liable for repair costs to...
When can you go to Adjudication?
Under section 25 of the Act, any party to a construction contract is entitled to refer a dispute arising under that construction contract to adjudication except where the parties have agreed to refer disputes between them to arbitration and the arbitration is an...
Alliancing: what does the new NEC4 Alliance Contract have to offer?
By Claire King Fenwick Elliott LLPIn June 2018 the NEC published its first Alliance Contract “designed for use on major projects or programmes of work where longer-term collaborative ways of working are to be created”.[1] In this Insight we examine what is meant by...
BuildLaw Issue 34
December 2018 In this issue we investigate how the new retentions regime stacked up in its first court case, in the Wellington High Court. We look at the new NEC4 Alliance Contract, trends in Asian leisure and hospitality, liquidated damages and receivables projects,...
Neutral Evaluation Revisited
by Royden Hindle [1] Neutral evaluation is a relatively little-used tool in the dispute resolution toolbox. Certainly, it has potential drawbacks: a party who is disappointed by an evaluator’s assessment may be slow to accept the outcome, while a party who feels...
A brief introduction to Adjudication
What is adjudication? Adjudication is a unique fast track statutory dispute resolution process or resolving building and construction disputes under the Act. It is the most commonly used dispute resolution process for resolving such disputes. Adjudication is quick and...
Initiating Adjudication: The Notice of Adjudication
Initiating Adjudication: Back to Basics Part One: The Notice of Adjudication The preparation of the Notice of Adjudication is arguably the most important step in the Adjudication process under the Construction Contracts Act (the Act). It is that document...
Dispute Review Boards: a brief overview
Dispute Review Boards are known by many names. They are often referred to as Dispute Boards, Dispute Avoidance Boards, Dispute Adjudication Boards and Dispute Resolution Boards. Whatever their name, they have become a standard dispute...
Initiating Adjudication: Service of the Notice of Adjudication
Initiating Adjudication: Back to Basics Part Two: Service of the Notice of Adjudication You have your Notice of Adjudication prepared, but what steps do you need to take to serve it? This note sets out in brief the requirements for service under the...
Initiating Adjudication: Appointing an Adjudicator
Initiating Adjudication: Back to Basics Part Three: Appointing an Adjudicator Following on from Part Two of our three-part series on initiating adjudication, in this note we briefly look at how to appoint an adjudicator under the Construction Contracts Act (the Act)....
BuildLaw Issue 33
November 2018 In this issue we feature delay analysis. We also look at challenging an adjudication determination in various jurisdictions, the perennial chestnut - who are the parties to the contract? force majeure clauses and causation, current problems besetting the...
BuildLaw Issue 32
June 2018 In this issue we feature 'no oral variation clauses in light of the recent UK Supreme Court decision in Rock Advertising v MWB. We also look at the Grenfell Tower Report and the suspension by MBIE of six CodeMark Certificates relating to ACPs, the...
Retentions – maxed out
Common retentions provisions in subcontracts may be unenforceable. In Maxcon Constructions Pty Ltd v Vadasz [2018] HCA 5, the High Court of Australia recently held that on its proper construction, the retention provisions in a subcontract that made...
BuildLaw Issue 31
March 2018 In this issue we feature the approach to judicial review of adjudicator's determinations taken by the courts in NSW and New Zealand. We also look at on-demand v conditional bonds, pitfalls of drafting a subsequent agreement on an underlying contract, the...
BuildLaw Issue 30
Dec 2017 In this issue we feature the Singapore Mataban case where the court confirms an adjudicator's decision to disregard an invalid payment response. We also look at the issue of non-conforming cladding that became notorious with the Grenfell Tower fire. Rebecca...
BuildLaw Issue 29
September 2017 In this issue we feature some of the challenges that are the hallmark of oral construction contracts. We also look at whether a duty of good faith applies to granting extensions of time, how final and binding is an expert determination, how not to amend...
BuildLaw Issue 28
June 2017 In this issue we feature natural justice and adjudications. We also look at representative defect claims and exclusion clauses, further amendments to the Arbitration Act, and the recent New Zealand Court of Appeals decisions in Ebert Construction v Sansom...
Recent Posts
- Cost certainty for resolving building and construction disputes: Extension to the BDT Adjudication Low Value Claim Scheme
- Construction Contracts – Enforcement of Debts Due and Mandatory Alternative Dispute Resolution Clauses
- The Enforceability of Liquidated Damages Clauses
- Building and Construction Under COVID-19 Alert Level 4
- Class-action lawsuit against Harditex cladding fails
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