Blog

  • Making ends meet

    We recently acted for a wife who was struggling to makes ends meet pending the final resolution of the parties' financial arrangements post-divorce.
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  • Property Development JVs - 'Not One Size Fits All'

    Property Development Joint Ventures can be structured in a variety of ways - with or without companies, trusts or formal partnerships. When choosing the right structure, there is no 'one size fits all' answer, which means you need lawyers who can tailor your joint venture agreement.

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  • Regional Rail Link under formal review

    The State Government has announced a formal review into the future of the Regional Rail Link. The Department of Transport website said, in announcing the review: 

    'The State Government is currently looking at the timing, funding and implementation of the Regional Rail Link project. During this time, the Regional Rail Link team is continuing to develop designs for key aspects of the project and is seeking feedback from the community and stakeholders on these designs.'

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  • High Court says Wine and Beer are the Same Thing (well, almost . . .)

    Trade marks are registered so as to apply to specified goods and services. In Australia, as in most countries, the goods and services are arranged into 45 classes (the Nice Classification). In general, the classes group together similar goods and similar services. Therefore, if you are seeking to register a trade mark that contains elements that are similar to someone else’s trade mark, you are more likely to find that the two marks conflict if the goods or services covered by both marks are in the same class. This is not exclusively the case, however, as was demonstrated in E.
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  • Settlement Payment Taxable as ETP

    In a recent hearing at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal it was held that a payment received by a taxpayer from his former employer as a settlement to legal proceedings was assessable as an employment termination payment (ETP) and not a tax-free capital payment for personal injury.

    The taxpayer had claimed age discrimination and breach of contract among other things and the settlement had involved a deed of release with the former employer agreeing to make a settlement payment of $395,000.

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  • RECRUITMENT AGENT’S ILLEGAL RESTRAINT OF TRADE

    In Earth Force Personnel Pty Ltd v E A Negri Pty Ltd & Anor [2010] VSC 426 (22 September 2010), Hargrave J was required to determine whether a condition that was included in a labour hire agreement was an unenforceable penalty and/or whether it operated as an unenforceable restraint of trade.

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  • A recent unreported case in the County Court highlights the need to keep business and friendship separate.

    In this case a concreter, whose company had a credit line with a supplier, was asked by a friend for permission to use his account to obtain a concrete on credit for his jobs.  The concreter accepted the request and the arrangement was a casual one with no paperwork or documentation.

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  • ABC Law Report on Compulsory Acquisition

    The ABC's Law Report has interviewed one of our lawyers, Anton Dunhill, about the process of Compulsory Acquisition and the impending action in Footscray.

    To listen to the audio, please click here.

     

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  • Regional Rail Link : Compulsory Property Acquisitions

    The Department of Transport is currently initiating a project known as the Regional Rail Link.  The project is a new rail line separating regional and metropolitan trains.  In particular, it gives Geelong, Bendigo, and Ballarat trains their own tracks from Sunshine to Southern Cross Station.  The Department has advised that it will oversee the building of up to 50 kilometres of new rail track.  

    During the construction process, some properties will need to be compulsorily acquired.

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  • Compulsory Acquisition General Advice

    Aitken Partners have acted for many land owners whose properties have been acquired as a result of various infrastructure projects. We act exclusively for land owners and the members of our Compulsory Acquisition team are familiar with the Land Acquisition and Compensation Act (“the Act”) under which compulsory acquisitions proceed. 

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