Asia Grand prevails in legal dispute against interior designer for its Bras Basah restaurant
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THE High Court on Friday (Jun 23) issued judgment in favour of restaurant operator Asia Grand (AG) in its dispute with boutique interior designer firm, AI Associates, over the remodelling of AG’s restaurant in Fairmont Singapore at Bras Basah Road.
AI was first awarded a contract to carry out work for the project on Jul 13, 2022.
In a payment claim first served on Nov 16, 2022, AI said AG owed S$133,529.08, including goods and services tax (GST), for the project.
On Dec 13 that year, AI served notice that it was applying for adjudication in respect of this claim, and lodged the application with the Singapore Mediation Centre the same day.
AG issued a payment response a day later, maintaining that this was in compliance with the timelines set out in the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2004 (Sopa).
An adjudication conference held on Jan 19, 2023, determined that AG’s Dec 14 payment response was served late and hence, not valid. AG was ordered to make a progress payment of S$94,097.21, inclusive of GST, to AI – and to also bear the entire cost of the adjudication.
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The written adjudication determination for this outcome was released on Feb 15.
Under the Sopa, if a contract does not contain terms that determine a service date or service period, a claim is deemed to have been served on the last day of the calendar month it was served – regardless of when it was served.
Judicial commissioner Teh Hwee Hwee wrote in her summary judgment ruling: “A payment process that keeps to regular timelines that run from a consistent day in each month keeps the Sopa mechanism running smoothly, prevents the missing of deadlines due to inadvertence, and minimises disputes. As a corollary, this also relieves a respondent from the need to constantly keep track of payment claims that are not served according to any stipulated contractual timelines.”
Based on the judgment, the earliest date for making a valid adjudication was Dec 22, 2022. This means AI’s application was lodged prematurely and, therefore, invalid.
Teh has therefore allowed AG’s application for the Feb 15 adjudication determination to be set aside or, in other words, annulled.
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