Litigation

A director can't escape an oral examination by the liquidator of collapsed construction company Symich Building on medical grounds, with a judge saying the doctor who certified her as unfit seemed to misunderstand that examinations are “adversarial in nature”.

The High Court will hear a case centred on the 'honest claim of right' defence for property offences, after an appeals court handed a win to an Indigenous man who cleared native vegetation on government-owned land.

In a loss for builder Ventura Home Group, a Western Australia tribunal has found the state's building commissioner can issue a remedy order over the installation of alleged faulty pipes at a residential property.

Sydney builder Next Constructions has accused a former employee and his wife of procuring $700,000 in secret profits by allegedly directing subcontractors to pay a company they controlled. 

A director of collapsed builder Shangri-La Construction who was found personally liable for $3.2 million in rectification costs for combustible cladding in a Melbourne apartment complex has failed to pass on his costs to his insurers. 

A court has excused the developer of a warehouse in greater western Sydney from paying a $1.38 million rent guarantee to CapitaLand Ascendas' REIT trustee Perpetual, finding it met its obligation to procure a tenant.

The builder and the developer of Sydney's 'The Eliza' apartment building have sought special leave with the High Court after they lost their challenge to a referee report that found it was reasonable for the owners to block them from rectifying defects.

In a landmark decision, the Forestry Corporation of NSW has been ordered to pay $450,000 to the Yurrungga Aboriginal Corporation after pleading guilty of cutting down nine culturally and environmentally significant trees in the Wild Cattle Creek State Forest in the state's mid-north coast.

The NSW Valuer General has lost its appeal of a decision upholding a challenge to eight land value determinations, with an appeals court finding that the Valuation of Land Act does not require the use of any specific method to determine land value.

A barrister for a group of banks defending a lawsuit launched by satellite company NewSat has questioned the credentials of the defunct firm's solicitor, who has challenged the lenders' $8.9 million security for costs bid.