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Opal Tower insurers question reasonableness of class action defence costs
Three insurers for builder Icon are planning to test the reasonableness of a structural engineer's defence costs in a now settled class action brought by apartment owners in Sydney's ill-fated Opal Tower.
Sacked partner in Lendlease ‘tax dodge’ suit not a protected whistleblower, court told
The protective scope of whistleblower laws will be tested in a $13 million suit brought by a former Greenwoods & Herbert Smith Freehills partner allegedly sacked for complaining about the tax avoidance strategy of construction giant Lendlease, the advisory firm's biggest client.
J Hutchinson, CFMEU fined $1.35M for construction boycott
Builder J Hutchinson and the CFMEU have been fined a combined $1.35 million for entered into an anti-competitive agreement to boycott an independent subcontractor at a construction site in Brisbane.
Inpex can call on $467M bank guarantee in battle with Daewoo over delayed floating gas facility
A judge has ruled that oil company Inpex can call on a $467 million bank guarantee in its contract battle with Korean shipbuilder Daewoo over the contentious Ichthys LNG project off the coast of Western Australia.
‘Alarming consequences’ if each building warranty breach creates new claim, court says
A judge has ruled that separate breaches of statutory building warranties do not create individual causes of action, in a win for an owners corporation bringing claims against the builder of an allegedly defective Haymarket apartment building.
Hall & Wilcox brings on new construction partner from boutique
Hall & Wilcox has expanded its construction practice with the recruitment of partner Stefan Fenk from law firm Vincent Young.
Law firm dodges personal costs order in client’s case alleging negligence
A judge has rejected a $225,000 personal costs order sought against a Sydney-based law firm by a homeowner in a beef with a builder, over what the homeowner claimed was a “woefully prepared” case in the NSW District Court.
Judge blasts ‘horrendously inefficient’ fight in developer’s lawsuit against Zurich
A judge has given a “judicial harrumph” to Sydney developer FKP Commercial Developments and Irish insurer Zurich Insurance in a dispute over coverage for an apartment defects suit, saying it was not for the court to “trawl” through an insurance policy to work out its meaning. 
Zurich won’t OK NZ apartments class action as it mulls High Court appeal
Irish insurer Zurich Insurance has refused consent for a class action over a defective New Zealand apartment block to proceed in the NSW Supreme Court as it mulls a High Court challenge to the case.
CFMMEU hit with maximum penalty after alleged homophobic slurs
The CFMMEU and two of its officials have been hit with the maximum penalty for allegedly breaching right of entry rules and calling a safety advisor “disgusting homophobic slurs” at a worksite on the $5.4 billion Queensland Cross River Rail project.