From sladen.com.au: On March 6, 2025, the Victorian Supreme Court ruled in Duke Ventures Wellington Street Pty Ltd v. Cobolt Constructions Pty Ltd that a debtor can utilise offsetting claims to set aside a statutory demand based on a judgment debt from the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 (Vic).

The Court determined that offsetting claims do not need to stem from separate transactions and can include those not raised during adjudication, as well as those rejected by the adjudicator.

Ultimately, the statutory demand was set aside because Duke’s substantiated offsetting claims outweighed the claim from Cobolt.