Contracts

Payments by bottler Schweppes Australia to US drink giant PepsiCo should be assessed as royalty income under tax law, the ATO has told the High Court in a high-stakes case.

A Dexus property fund has argued that a judge went the “wrong way” in deciding that it was forced to sell its 50 per cent stake in Sydney’s largest suburban shopping centre to Macquarie Retail. 

Lendlease has lost its bid to allow a key witness to give evidence by audio-visual link in its fight with a company owned by the Macarthur-Onslow family over a Campbelltown development.

After more than a decade, luxury home builder Glenvill is a step closer to remediation for an asbestos clean-up at an industrial site in the Melbourne suburb of Alphington, purchased from Amcor for residential development.

Rio Tinto unit Energy Resources has lost its privilege claim over an internal investigation into the failure of one of its wellhead systems, which is at the centre of a defects claim against equipment manufacturer Cactus Wellhead.

A judge has handed a win to a builder in a dispute with an RSL club, finding that even if an adjudicator wrongly construed a provision of the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act, his decision could still stand.

Payday lender Sunshine Loans has lost an appeal after it was ruled liable for “wrongheaded” conduct, with an appeals court finding that counsel showed an “egregious failure” to confine the case to the real issues. 

Private equity firm EMR Capital has been ordered to pay $12.5 million under a controversial share sales agreement for a Queensland copper mine.

Engineering firm Clough has filed a cross-claim against its former joint venture partner Elecnor in the EnergyConnect transmission project after the companies had a falling out over defaults.

An ANZ client who alleges an investment advisor accessed her private banking records has been ordered to replead her case.