Construction

Investors in an apartment development in Melbourne have brought a class action against the responsible managers for two managed investment schemes, alleging their funds were misused. 

A class action over the Victorian government’s decision to redevelop the state’s public housing towers has asked the court for an injunction blocking demolition of three towers in inner city Melbourne, as the state foreshadows a bid to summarily dismiss the case.

Small businesses that allegedly suffered losses from interference caused by the construction of Sydney’s $3 billion light rail will have to wait before receiving any damages while Transport for NSW appeals its loss in a class action over the project’s construction.

A former director of Melbourne-based developer Steller Developments has denied liquidators’ claims that he agreed to give a $120 million personal guarantee before the company went under, saying there was “not one single contemporaneous document” referring to the alleged guarantee. 

Builder J Hutchinson and the union for construction workers have successfully appealed a finding that they unlawfully agreed to boycott an independent subcontractor at a Brisbane building site.

A judge has declined a novel bid by the lead applicant in a class action over disruptions stemming from the construction of Sydney’s $3 billion light rail to claim a funder’s 40 per cent commission as damages, rather than as a deduction from group members’ payout.

Shareholders of New Zealand construction giant Fletcher Building have told a court that late claims in their class action over alleged misleading 2017 profit forecasts are not time barred because knowledge of the allegations was not discoverable before the case was filed.

The former managing director of property developer Ralan Group has been sentenced to four years immediate imprisonment after pleading guilty to six fraud offences over loans the defunct group took out to fund several projects in Sydney.

Construction giant Boral has lost its bid to block a class action from running a ‘novel’ argument that shareholders suffered loss because of natural fluctuations in share price, rather than as a direct result of alleged continuous disclosure breaches. 

A judge has refused to retroactively approve a conditional costs agreement between a liquidator and a Sydney law firm to pursue claims against a former director and employee of defunct project management firm AJW, rejecting as misconceived the claim that approval had utility only after a settlement.