Litigation

Real estate giant Cushman & Wakefield has settled a suit by a former managing director who alleged he was unfairly terminated to prevent him from keeping a $1.5 million sign-on bonus. 

The owner of a proposed shopping centre development in Melton is appealing a Victorian Supreme Court order that it return $1.5 million to a defunct developer that allegedly breached a $30 million land sale contract.

Investors in Falcon Capital's First Guardian Master Fund will recover less than 10 per cent of a $33.5 million loan advanced to an inexperienced Melbourne developer, under a settlement reached by the company's liquidators.

A group of Gold Coast residents has asked the High Court to overturn the approval of a nine-story luxury residential development, arguing the court failed to consider the 'reasonable amenity expectations' of neighbouring residents before allowing the building to exceed local height limits.

Asset Energy is appealing a decision which rejected its challenge to the Offshore Petroleum Joint Authority'a decision not to extend the permit for its PEP11 gas exploration project off the Hunter coast in NSW.

Qube and Martinus Rail are locked in another courtroom fight over Sydney's $4 billion Moorebank Intermodal Terminal, with Qube firing off a lawsuit to enforce a $26 million arbitration award.

Car makers Tesla and Hyundai have argued NSW's law imposing a road-user charge on electric vehicles may be invalid following a High Court decision which struck down Victoria's EV tax as an invalid excise, while urging the state government not to introduce any new road charges.

The Boroondara City Council has sued over a James Packer-backed residential development slated for construction in the heart of Kew Junction, alleging the planning minister wrongly accepted that adjoining land could be utilised in the development. 

The Queensland government is facing a possible union challenge to a proposed new construction code, with the union voicing concerns about how the state rules would interact with federal obligations.

Dexus' decision to resist an undertaking as part of a deal to temporarily block the compulsory sale of its shares in airport operator APAC has been criticised by a judge for resulting in an "appalling waste" of time and money.