Receipt of SOPA Claims by Email - Ignorance is not Bliss

Service of SOPA Payment Claims By Email: Claire Rewais and Osama Rewais t/as McVitty Grove v BPB Earthmoving Pty Ltd [2025] NSWCA 103 [Rewais v BPB]

Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Services

Commercial Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution

Solomon Brothers has significant experience in all types of commercial litigation and alternative dispute resolution processes, resolving disputes in areas including contract, tort, property, construction, finance and securities, franchising, competition and consumer law, corporations, and insolvency.

We provide mediation services through our litigation partners, Doug Solomon, David Marsh and Chris Williams. As a team, we aim to and frequently achieve success for clients engaged in disputes without needing to resort to litigation.

Moreover, if needed, our clients can comfortably rely upon Solomon Brothers’ significant experience in all courts and tribunals at all levels. Our team has the experience and resources required to prepare and take complex litigation to trial if necessary, although we resolve most cases before they get to trial. In recent years, we have been able to utilise advanced technologies to expand the type and scale of litigation we can manage. In particular, being a medium sized firm, we are able to react quickly and take advantage of technological advancements as and when they may occur such as AI discovery review. We also retain an inherent flexibility to ensure that we can meet our clients’ needs as they change over time.

We have extensive experience in appearing as counsel in all jurisdictions, and this extends to appearance in the High Court of Australia.

Real Estate and Property Disputes

Property development is a common commercial enterprise, however, irrespective of parties’ best intentions, relationships often break down and disputes arise. Complementing our commercial experience in property development and transactions, we regularly act for clients involved in property-related disputes, in areas including:

retail shop lease disputes where we represent landlords and tenants in proceedings in courts and in the State Administrative Tribunal;
lease disputes involving the recovery of arrears, termination, enforcement, and relief against forfeiture;
disputes arising out of sale and purchase disputes for both green title and strata title properties; and
strata titles where disputes arise out of the management of strata companies and other measures affecting strata owners.

Business Structures

Solomon Brothers assist clients to resolve disputes in connection with companies, partnerships, trusts and joint ventures (both incorporated joint ventures and unincorporated joint ventures). These include:

breaches of contractual, statutory or fiduciary obligations;
dissolution, winding-up, or vesting;
recovery of money and property; and
disputes over joint venture management, including oil and gas joint ventures and property joint ventures.

Franchise Disputes

Many Australians choose to operate their own businesses through franchises. While most do so successfully, many do not – for a variety of reasons. Resolving franchise disputes can be complicated because it is a highly regulated industry under constant scrutiny.

We regularly represent franchisors and franchisees in disputes arising out of franchising agreements, such as the early termination of such agreements, and alleged breaches of the Franchising Code of Conduct. Moreover, franchising disputes are often more complicated than the franchise itself. They often involve property and business structure disputes, which is why you want your lawyer to have expertise in these areas also.

Corporations Act

A fundamental prerequisite for a litigation firm is deep understanding of company law. The team at Solomon Brothers has extensive experience in dealing with issues arising under the Corporations Act. Often, there can be significant imbalances in power within the structure of the company or changed circumstances that can lead to friction between shareholders and/or directors. We have advised and represented clients in a wide variety of disputes concerning:

oppressive, unfair or discriminatory conduct that can lead to orders regulating the affairs of a company or winding it up;
breaches of director duties, giving rise to claims for statutory or general law compensation; and
breaches of statutory duties imposed on responsible entities of managed investment schemes (MIS).

In addition, we commonly provide advice in relation to company administration, receivership and liquidation, including service of statutory demands and winding up applications for insolvency. Find further information in relation to the insolvency services we provide here.

Equity and Trusts

Most commonly, when a client has a legal problem, the first question is “what can I do?” The answer often lies in equity. The law of equity is not something that many people, other than lawyers, know of but, as an area of law, it intersects with a broad spectrum of other laws, so it is vital that your lawyers have a deep understanding of it.

The classic areas of commercial disputes where equity almost always applies are trust disputes and wills and estates. However, it regularly arises in partnership disputes, forming property disputes, insolvency, contract and real estate disputes of various kinds.

Solomon Brothers has substantial experience representing clients in complex claims for equitable relief. The kind of relief available in equity includes specific performance, injunctions, damages or compensation for certain losses.

Competition and Consumer Law

Since its inception in 1975 (under its former guise of the Trade Practices Act), Australia Competition and Consumer laws have become one of the important laws for lawyers to understand. These laws cut across most disputes, such that no matter what the underlying basis of the dispute (property, franchising, contract, business structures) the Consumer laws may be engaged.

We provide advice and representation where claims arise under these laws, including:

misleading or deceptive conduct;
unconscionable conduct;
exclusive dealing;
re-sale price maintenance;
agreements alleged to affect competition;
substantial market power;
price discrimination;
overseas and interstate conduct; and
defamation.

Critically, despite being referred to as “consumer laws”, Australian Consumer Laws reach well beyond what you might regard as consumer relationships and can apply in even the largest commercial disputes. We took one of Australia’s biggest misleading and deceptive conduct claims to trial in the Federal Court in 2024 – the decision is currently reserved.

Contract Disputes

By and large, contract disputes are usually quite simple. However, as often as not these disputes extend beyond the contract in areas like equity, competition and consumer law. A variety of statutes might also be engaged. For this reason, Solomon Brothers always takes a holistic view of the dispute and focuses on what it is our clients are hoping to achieve.

Construction Disputes

Our construction law team has a wealth of experience in dealing with all manner of construction disputes. We have a strong grounding in claims under Western Australia’s security of payment regime under the Construction Contracts Act 2004. Find further information in relation to the construction dispute services we provide here.

Securities, Enforcement

Solomon Brothers helps clients pursue and recover debts owed to them. We obtain judgments for our clients if necessary, and take procedural steps to enforce such judgments. In addition to enforcing existing securities such as mortgages and charges, we obtain property sale and seizure orders, conduct means enquiries, and pursue other remedies. We commonly act for lenders in getting orders for possession of all types of property and the mortgagee sale of real estate.

Challenges to Government and Regulatory Body Decisions

A common source of frustration in everyday life arises from action taken (or not taken, as the case may be) by government bodies; Commonwealth, State and Local. Solomon Brothers has broad experience in acting for clients challenging:

decisions of local Governments and the Western Australian Planning Commission to grant, or refuse to grant, planning approvals, and the conditions imposed in planning approvals;
the exercise by the WA Contaminated Sites Committee of its power to determine responsibility for remediation of contaminated sites; and
decisions of the mining warden to grant or refuse applications for mining tenements; and Solomon Brothers has conducted challenges to the Supreme Court from decisions based on jurisdictional errors of law.

We appear for clients in proceedings in the State Administrative Tribunal, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, and State and Federal courts.

Litigation Funding

Solomon Brothers were one of the first Western Australian firms to work with litigation funding (including challenges to the lawfulness of funding arrangements) and, since that time, has regularly acted under such arrangements. We therefore have a deep understanding of managing funded matters, especially when it comes to the complexities of settling claims with a large and diverse range of funded claimants.

If you become part of a class action and you want independent advice, we can also help.