Construction Law Update: The Validity of SOPA Claims Served Early & Waiver of Jurisdictional Objections

20 Feb 2018

This update discusses the Court of Appeal’s decision in Audi Construction Pte Ltd v Kian Hiap Construction Pte Ltd [2018] SGCA 4. The Court of Appeal upheld the validity of a post-dated payment claim served under a construction contract which specified that payment claims were to be served on the “20th day of each calendar month”. The subcontractor thought that it was not feasible to serve a payment claim on Sunday, 20 November 2016 as the employer’s offices were closed, and instead served the payment claim in question on the Friday before. However, the payment claim itself was post-dated 20 November 2016.

The Court of Appeal also gave guidance on the circumstances in which a respondent may be taken to have waived any objection to the validity of a payment claim’s service or to be estopped from doing so due to a failure to file a payment response.

To read the update, please click here.

Content authored by: Mahesh Rai, Director, Dispute Resolution; and Don Loo, Senior Associate, Dispute Resolution