People

Ben Seccombe

PARTNER

P: (07) 3007 3720  |  E: bseccombe@mahoneys.com.au

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About

Ben leads Mahoneys dispute resolution group, and has over 20 years’ commercial litigation and dispute resolution experience.

A nationally recognised commercial litigator, he works across Australia to resolve corporate and commercial, construction, property, insolvency, defamation and intellectual property disputes.

Ben has an established track record of securing commercial outcomes for clients in court as well as through mediation or out of court negotiation.

He is recognised as a leading practitioner in strata and body corporate disputes.

Key service areas

  • Bankruptcy
  • Body corporate and strata
  • Building defects
  • Business disputes
  • Contract disputes
  • Construction disputes
  • Debt recovery
  • Defamation
  • Employment disputes
  • Estate litigation
  • Franchising disputes
  • Fair Work complaints
  • Insolvency and restructuring
  • Intellectual property and copyright
  • Management rights
  • Misleading and deceptive conduct
  • Office of fair trading breaches
  • Partnership disputes
  • Professional negligence
  • QBCC complaints
  • Property and leasing disputes
  • Shareholder disputes
  • Statutory demands
  • Winding up orders

Qualifications & memberships

  • Bachelor of Laws
  • Master of Laws
  • Admitted to practice in Queensland, New South Wales, the Northern Territory and the High Court of Australia
  • Member, Queensland Law Society
  • Member, Australian College of Strata Lawyers

Recent experience

  • acting for a Government Related Entity in a landmark matter concerning the application of the new federal workplace relations laws to Queensland Government Related Entities.
  • successfully defending an international petroleum franchise from claims arising from accidents at franchised sites.
  • advising a property developer in relation to the termination of an ‘off-the-plan’ contract.
  • recovering a substantial deposit for a young family who had terminated a building contract for failure by their builder to complete their new house in a timely fashion.
  • advising a privately appointed receiver and manager on employment issues arising from his appointment and on retention of title claims by creditors.
  • recovering for receivers substantial preferred payments from the Australian Taxation Office.
  • acting for a multi-million dollar property group in defence of an action by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission alleging contraventions of the Trade Practices Act.
  • securing timely payment for building sub-contractors pursuant to the Building and Construction Industry Payments Act.
  • conduct of complicated actions in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal on behalf of resident managers in remuneration reviews and defending termination proceedings.
  • assisting the Aurora Tower body corporate in a wide scale dispute with its caretaking service contractor.
  • acting for the Drift Palm Cove community title scheme in a dispute under a BMS with various commercial-lot owners.
  • assisting various bodies corporate respond to requests for statutory remuneration reviews by caretaking service contractors.
  • assisting the Metropolis community title scheme to successfully terminate a caretaking service contract.
  • acting in the High Court matter of Ainsworth v Albrecht which considered the body corporate’s obligations to act reasonably.
  • assisting the owners of Nobbys Outlook and Voyager Resort to sell their scheme to developers by way of court order.
  • every major dispute between a body corporate and caretaking services contractor which has proceeded to trial in the last decade.

Ben frequently appears in both State and federal jurisdictions and in the specialist tribunals of Queensland and New South Wales.

Ben's News and Insights

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Statutory Reviews – A process for changing your caretaking agreement

By: Ben Seccombe
8 February 2024

Statutory Remuneration Review Process

By: Ben Seccombe
13 December 2023

Mahoneys named Law Firm of the Year

By: Mahoneys
13 November 2023