The claimant, Volkerlaser Ltd issued summary judgment proceedings for a‘technical’ claim for payment which arose from the defendant, Nottingham City Council failure to serve requisite payment or pay less notices.

Volkerlaser, the contractor had been employed by Nottingham City Council, the employer to undertake works to a number of properties.  The contract was based on a TPC2005, and ran for a term that expired on 31 March 2015. Following the expiry of the term contract, in November 2015 the claimant applied for payment of certain works.  The contract payment terms provided that payment was to be applied for in the month that works were commenced or completed.

Mr  Justice Edwards-Stuart   dismissed the claimant’s  application for summary judgment  because the  claimant had not made a valid application i.e. it was not made at the end of a month during which the contractor either commenced or completed  the ‘task’ and had failed to issue a VAT invoice, as required  to trigger the final date for payment.

Interestingly, these sorts of claim are more usually referred to adjudication and it is uncommon for the contractor to start court proceedings and apply for summary judgment on the sums said to be due to it on an interim basis. It is unclear as to why the contractor took the summary judgment route and in light of the decision reached, it is questionable whether it is a good tactical move.

Mr  Justice Edwards-Stuart  noted  that the wording “at the end of each calendar month” in relation to when interim applications should be made did  not mean on the last working day of each month, but “within three or four working days” or dependent on how the parties had  treated  monthly  applications in the past.