Contracts

An appeals court has found that a solicitor’s caveat over his bankrupt client’s property was valid, after the client agreed to mortgage his property as security for up to $100,000 in legal costs, saying it was the only binding costs agreement they had.

The Northern Territory public housing authority has moved to throw out a class action’s claims that it engaged in racial discrimination by failing to maintain public housing in remote Aboriginal communities. 

Collapsed construction and maintenance company General Trade Industries has lost its bid to revive abandoned claims against AGL in a nearly four-year old contract case over work on two Queensland gas plants, with a judge finding the company has had “more than a sufficient opportunity to plead its case”.

A former capital partner at HWL Ebsworth has lost his argument that he remained in the firm’s partnership until last month, after a judge found he was invalidly expelled in 2020. 

A Perth-based forex trader that allegedly failed to return investors’ funds or any profits made on trading has taken no steps in the undefended class action, a court has heard.

The High Court has held that a contractor had a “prima facie entitlement” to recoup the costs of building an aircraft hangar in Cessnock, NSW, which it spent in reliance on the local government performing its obligations under their contract, in a case that clarifies how courts should assess reliance damages claims. 

The High Court has been asked to weigh in on whether a client needs to prove it could have exploited a lost commercial right in order to prevail in a law firm negligence case, after HWL Ebsworth successfully appealed a decision that found its bad advice over property in Parramatta’s ‘Auto Alley’ cost a client $2 million.

HWL Ebsworth has argued a former capital partner who was found to have been invalidly expelled in 2020 cannot claim a share of the law firm’s profits from then to now, saying he could not reap the benefits of partnership without the “burdens”.

Scyne Advisory has resolved its case seeking to bar a former partner from working for the professional services arm of Downer EDI, in a confidential settlement the firm said acknowledged the need to protect information and uphold restraints.

A judge has appointed a contradictor for an upcoming settlement approval hearing in a class action by financial advisers against AMP over its buyer of last resort policy, saying the funder was taking a “very large” cut of the $100 million settlement.