Contracts

The corporate regulator has taken a provider of small loans to court after it allegedly monitored and removed funds from consumers’ bank accounts without their knowledge.

The ACT government is pushing for an initial trial dealing with “gateway questions” in a class action over alleged forced relocations of public housing tenants, after it lost a bid to summarily dismiss the case. 

A defunct sand importer has told a court that it was "strung along" by the Port of Authority of NSW over an agreement to build a multi-user facility in Glebe Island, alleging the government-owned corporation is liable for $300 million in damages for unconscionable conduct. 

An Acciona unit has sued Dual Australia, claiming the insurer is on the hook for $3 million in remediation for alleged design defects by a subcontractor on a Fulton Hogan quarry in Victoria. 

Design firm HUB Interiors has sued the owner of Perth's Eastpoint Plaza, alleging that its copyrighted office designs were passed on to other builders without its permission. 

The engineers that provided design services for Victoria’s West Gate tunnel project have sued software provider Midas, alleging it used the wrong formula to calculate stiffness in bridge designs. 

Contesting $17.8 million in fees billed by law firm Hall & Wilcox, the liquidators of collapsed engineering firm Hastie Group have told a court there was no written costs agreement between the parties. 

The purported purchaser of two off-the-plan penthouses in a Newstead high-rise has won his suit against the developer, who sold the apartments to someone else for more than double the contract price.

A Queensland tribunal has refused to set aside a costs agreement between Shine Lawyers and a former client, despite invoices blowing out to more than six times the original estimate, finding the matter had already been dealt with in a costs assessment. 

CityLink operator CML, which was found to have overcharged Eastlink operator ConnectEast, has argued that it also overpaid and is entitled to damages, but ConnectEast has told a judge the claim is time-barred and doesn't fall within a cross-claim exception.