Today the Queensland Court of Appeal set aside an earlier decision of the Land Court regarding the valuation of land compulsorily acquired to make way for the Hale Street Bridge.
In 2007, the council compulsorily acquired 5,643m2 of land for the purpose of constructing the new river crossing.
A dispute arose as to the value of the land which came before the Land Court for an assessment of compensation in 2009. The Land Court determined that the pre-acquisition value of the land be $25,600,000.
The owner and the mortgagee of the land appealed the assessment which was successful in November 2010. Whilst no monetary value was given by the judges in the Land Appeal Court decision, the land owner and the mortgagee (who is now in liquidation) argued that the valuation was in the order of $40,000,000.
The Land Appeal Court held that the earlier decision had wrongly disregarded a planning proposal published subsequently to the date of resumption in consideration of the size of the development which a prudent vendor and purchaser would have expected to have been approved.
Today the Queensland Court of Appeal allowed the Brisbane City Council’s Appeal, and returned the assessment to the Lower Court for a redetermination of the value of land. However it also urged the parties to agree on an amount without the need for further costs of a further hearing.
Walsh Halligan Douglas were the Queensland solicitors assisting the interstate liquidators’ lawyers, Griffins Lawyers of Adelaide, in this matter.
For further information, contact us at litigation@whd.com.au.