Victoria

Victoria's Building and Plumbing Commission has suspended a prominent building surveyor over a series of alleged failures in relation to a Carnegie renovation.

The High Court has thrown out Victoria's $4,970 cap on political donations months ahead of the next state elections, finding the law is unconstitutional and unlawfully benefits the major parties.

Owners and head contractors could be caught out for unexpected payments and lose rights they thought they had, as far-reaching changes to Victoria’s security of payment regime take effect today, a construction expert told Lawyerly. 

Bentleys Wealth is suing a former director and his companies alleging he poached clients after leaving the firm, in breach of his employment agreement and various duties. 

The Victorian Court of Appeal will rule on whether to grant a lawyer an extension to appeal a tribunal decision ordering that he be removed from the roll and barred from practicing for nine years, after he argued a judge's adverse comments about him during an adjournment rendered a tribunal decision void. 

A tribunal has declined to approve a planned Veolia waste consolidation facility 220 metres from a residential area, after receiving hundreds of objections that expressed concerns about odour.

A 27-year old cricketer who will be permanently bound to a wheelchair has won a $15.2 million judgment against a local council over its failure to install pedestrian gates at a convenient location near the cricket grounds, with a judge finding this led to players routinely jumping a fence to exit. 

Pitcher Partners has taken a former client to court, alleging it failed to pay a $1.3 million 'abort fee' after it withdrew from a proposal to sell the business. 

The High Court has agreed to review a ruling that upheld an easement of prescription -- or right of long use -- in a fight between a member of the prominent Valmorbida family and an entity linked to the founder of collapsed construction group Steller over access to a Sorrento property.

A self-disclosed error in modelling by the law firm that ran a class action against Hino Motors has cost the firm an even deeper cut to its payout than the $6 million lopped off its settlement share last year.