Australia, June 30 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on May 29:

1. Before the Court is an ex parte application by way of Notice of Motion by the defendant/cross-claimant, Mr Gary Aladjadjian, for an asset preservation or freezing order under Part 25.14 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW).

2. In substance, the background to the matter is that there is a longstanding dispute between Mr Aladjadjian, who I will refer to as the defendant, and Mr Issam Saba, in relation to building work performed by Mr Saba for the defendant at a property located at xx Fullagar Road, Wentworthville in NSW.

3. The contract between the parties is in evidence before me, and is dated 5 November 2020: see Exhibit A, p 66. The contract is a Residential Building Head Contract. The signatures of the parties are at Exhibit A, p 71. The contract in question has a fixed contract price of $1,020,000 plus GST. The contract required the builder, the plaintiff, to demolish an existing dwelling, and construct a detached duplex with two granny flats for the fixed price which I have indicated.

4. The builder is the sole director and secretary of SFR Construction Pty Ltd. The builder is also the registered proprietor of a property located at xx Chelmsford Road, South Wentworthville in NSW (Exhibit A, p 47).

5. There is a lengthy history relating to payments of moneys by the defendant under the contract, and disputes arising between the plaintiff and the defendant. The defendant paid on account allegedly the sum of $1,098,900 to the builder. When disputes arose between the parties, the builder commenced proceedings in NCAT for the amount of $85,000. An extensive Cross-Claim was filed by the defendant in relation to what is said to be defective and incomplete building works in the sum of over $965,000. Those proceedings were commenced on 22 December 2023: Exhibit A, p 100. In due course, the proceedings were transferred from NCAT to this Court. A Statement of Claim was filed by the plaintiff on 26 September 2024 seeking the recovery of $85,000, which reflects the application made in NCAT.

6. A Defence was filed by the defendant on 19 November 2024. On 19 November 2024, the defendant also filed a Cross-Claim alleging defective and incomplete works, seeking damages for breach of contract, and also seeking damages under s 236 of the Australian Consumer Law. Another order was sought in relation to a document entitled "Variation".

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/1973e5ec39c27afdd46798e7)

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.