Litigation

Engineering firm Calibre can't get minutes of meetings involving Probuild and the owners of the Pacific Werribee shopping centre in Victoria to defend itself in $356 million defects suit.

A judge has set aside a SOPA determination after finding a verbal conversation between a developer and a crane supplier did not constitute a construction contract.

A Heran Group unit has lost its challenge to orders that $4.8 million be paid to a Queensland builder from an escrow account held by HWL Ebsworth amid an appeal in its dispute over a $128 million contract for beachfront apartments. 

Office provider Servcorp may amend a lawsuit against former MLC Centre owner GPT alleging it failed to disclose plans for major redevelopment works on the Sydney CBD high-rise before they signed a lease in 2014.

A judge has found there is a genuine dispute over an agreement for the recommissioning of Australian Pacific Coal's Dartbrook coal mine in the Hunter Valley and refused to toss a suit alleging its ex-CEO breached her duty by entering into the agreement. 

HWL Ebsworth and former partner Dennis Bluth have been hit with a new lawsuit in the Victorian Supreme Court after allegedly providing negligent advice regarding a development in south-west Sydney.

A judge wants answers on why builder Geocon has filed a $4 million construction dispute over two Canberra developments in the Federal Court, where a separate fight with its joint venture partners is playing out. 

A real estate agency in Victoria has lost a suit seeking the payment of its advertising costs from a former client, with a judge finding that writing 'TBA' in the contract defeated the consumer protection purpose of rules for real estate agents.

The events described by an ex-Master Builders Association board member read like a best-seller, involving as they do boardroom drama, a secret investigation and an alleged whistleblower. But as thrilling as they sound, they don't support orders for discovery against the construction lobby group, a judge has said.

Refusing to sit out a criminal trial against Boral Cement, a judge has said his sentencing of an engineering firm that pleaded guilty in the SafeWork NSW case did not disqualify him.