Australia, Sept. 8 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Aug. 7: 1. THE COURT: The plaintiff, Mr Gareth Ward MP, is the Member for Kiama in the Legislative Assembly in the New South Wales Parliament. On 25 July 2025 he was convicted in the District Court of one count of sexual intercourse without consent and three counts of assault with act of indecency, following a trial by jury. Shortly thereafter he was remanded in custody pending sentence. T...
Australia, Sept. 8 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Aug. 7: 1. On 23 June 2025, the Deputy Secretary, Local Government (the Secretary) referred to the Tribunal, pursuant to section 438HA(9) of the Local Government Act 1993 (NSW) (the Act), a Departmental Report (the Report) concerning: 1) the alleged failure of Mr Andrew Thaler (the Councillor) to take action, as required by a performance improvement order issued on 6 February 2025 and mad...
Australia, Sept. 8 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Aug. 7: 1. Before the Court in these Class 2 tree dispute proceedings commenced pursuant to Pt 2 of the Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 (NSW) ('Trees Act') on 10 December 2024 by Xiu Yan Xu and her son, Xiabing Xu, whom I shall refer to as Ms Xu and Mr Xu, are three notices of motion: two notices of motion filed 23 December 2024 (amended on 17 January 2025 and further amended ...
Australia, Sept. 8 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Aug. 7: 1. By summons filed on 3 June 2025 the plaintiff claims an order for extension of the defendant's status as a forensic patient under the Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act 2020 (NSW) (the Forensic Provisions Act). The defendant is represented by a tutor and opposes the summons. The proceedings came before me on 28 July 2025 for a preliminary hearing purs...
Australia, Sept. 8 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Aug. 7: 1. By order of 13 May 2025 (13 May 2025 Order), Black J dismissed an amended summons filed on 24 February 2025 by Mr Jaworski (Amended Summons): Gerald Jaworski v Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (No 4) [2025] NSWSC 457 ("Jaworski (No 4)"). In the Amended Summons, Mr Jaworski sought the following relief: "Order that on the Court being satisfied that Mr Jaworski has ...
Australia, Sept. 8 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Aug. 7: 1. By Amended Statement of Claim filed on 19 July 2024, Collappor8 Pty Ltd ('C8') sought damages, interest and costs against the City of Liverpool Chamber of Commerce & Industry Incorporated ('the Chamber'). 2. C8 carries on the business of providing "management services". The Chamber is a not-for-profit local Chamber of Commerce. 3. On 27 May 2022, C8 and the Chamber entered int...
Australia, Sept. 8 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Aug. 7: 1. In a recent decision we refused to give Mr Adam Houda and the law firm of which he is the principal, Lawyers Corp Pty Ltd, leave to appeal from a decision made by the Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT): Houda v Seraphim [2025] NSWCATAP 135 (the Appeal Decision (AD)). Ms Hana Seraphim, the respondent in the appeal and...
Australia, Sept. 8 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Aug. 7: 1. On 4 July 2025, Registrar Froh, having heard a notice of motion dated 1 July 2025 filed by the Respondent to this Class 1 proceeding (the Woollahra Municipal Council (the Council)), made (inter alia) the following orders: "2. The Respondent is granted leave to rely on the expert town planning evidence of Simon Smith. 3. The Respondent's leave to rely on the expert town plannin...
Australia, Sept. 8 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Aug. 7: 1. On 3 June 2025, in this appeal, the Appeal Panel ordered that: 1) To the extent necessary, leave to appeal is granted. 2) The orders made on 31 October 2024 are set aside and are replaced with the orders below. 3) Pursuant to s 79N of the Fair Trading Act there be a declaration that the Appellants are relieved of any obligation to pay the Respondent in relation to work carrie...
Australia, Sept. 8 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Aug. 7: 1. The first plaintiff, Dr Brett Gooley, is the son and the executor of the estate of the late Mr Melville Gooley, who died on 23 December 2017. 2. The second plaintiff, Service Gooley (GFT) Pty Ltd, (Service GFT) has been the trustee of the Gooley Family Trust since about 14 February 2023. The previous trustee - Cuthbert Rose Pty Ltd (Cuthbert Rose) - is not a party to these proc...