Civil Contractors Australia loses court appeal for $1.4m payment from Galaxy Developments over Foxwell Rd Coomera project

A landscaping contractor has missed out on more than $1 million for its work on a Coomera subdivision after a court case which included a bunfight over a bus stop even a judge called “absurd”.

The contact was mostly for earthworks, court documents said.

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A MISSED deadline and an “absurd” bunfight over a $37,000 bus stop have played out in court and seen a Brisbane landscaping contractor miss out on more than $1 million for its work on a Coomera subdivision.

Civil Contractors Australia initially won an adjudicator’s decision in October, which said it should be paid the $1.4 million it claimed for earthmoving and other work at an estate near Foxwell Rd.

However, the developer took the matter to court, claiming adjudicator Thomas Jones’s decision was void because it was made five days late.

Galaxy also argued that, even if the adjudicator’s lateness didn’t void the decision, it shouldn’t have to pay the contractor as it had done some work it was not licensed for.

Court documents said CCA had moved a bus stop seat and installed a bike rack – work worth about $37,000 – that it was not licensed to undertake.

The bus shelter on Foxwell Rd, near Galaxy Dr in Coomera.

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In her March 2020 judgment, Judge Jean Dalton agreed the missed deadline voided the adjudicator’s decision to pay the contractor.

She also upheld the developer’s position that the entire $1.4 million contract was not liable to be paid because of the $37,000 of unlicensed work, adding that the building regulations made her finding “correct in law, (but) absurd in reality”.

The court also declared the adjudicator in the dispute, Mr Jones, was not entitled to be paid for his services, and ordered he refund any money paid by the contractor.

CCA and the adjudicator each appealed the decisions in the Supreme Court – but this week the court dismissed both appeals.

While appeal judges David Jackson and Philip McMurdo agreed the adjudicator’s lateness meant his decision was void and his fees along with it, they did not agree with the developer’s argument that the $37,000 unlicensed work should have voided the entire contract.

The appeal judgment said the bus seat and bike rack were associated with a road and should therefore have been excluded from the building licence requirements.

Despite that difference of opinion with the first court decision, the conclusion was the same, with both appeals dismissed due to the late adjudication.

Both CCA and Mr Jones were ordered to pay the developer’s court appeal costs.

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