Commercial Law
Tribunals - QCAT & AAT
Litigation
Mediation / ADR
International Arbitration
Merissa Martinez
Barrister-at-Law
Specialist Construction
Projects & Engineering
Transport Infrastucture
Payment & Delay Claims
Adjudication
Recommendations and Appointments
Recommended in Doyle's Guide as Emerging Construction & Infrastructure Junior Counsel, Queensland 2017.
Shortlisted for the WLAQ Regional Woman Lawyer of the Year Award 2017.
Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions External Panel Junior Counsel February 2017 - February 2021.
Recommended in the UK Legal 500 in 2013.
Recent Supreme Court cases
Brisbane Airport Corporation Pty Ltd v Arup Pty Ltd [2017] QSC 232 - representing the principal in a complex engineering dispute with $37m damages claimed arising from professional negligence and breach of ss.51A, 52 or 53 of the Trade Practices Act - leave granted by Justice Applegarth under r.376 - new cause of action arising from substantially the same facts as pleaded in the original statement of claim (Junior Counsel to Gareth Beacham QC).
Annie Street JV Pty Ltd v MCC Pty Ltd [2016] 49 QLR 7; [2016] QSC 268 (Justice Flanagan)- whether adjudicator's determination was without foundation and illogical - whether adequate reasons were provided in accordance with s.26(3) of the BCIPA (Qld) - whether natural justice had been denied - whether function discharged when adjudicator refused to consider relevant contract clauses (Junior Counsel to Gareth Beacham QC).
Grocon Constructors (Qld) Pty LTd v Juniper Developer No 2 Pty Ltd [2015] QCA 291 (CJ Holmes, Atkinson and McMeekin JJ) - applicability of the penalty doctrine to a Liquidated Damages provision in a construction contract (research note for Peter Franco QC).
John Holland Queensland Pty Ltd v Allied Technologies Australia Pty Ltd - resisting challenges to an adjudicator's decision based on alleged failure to discharge his obligations under s.26 of the BCIPA (Qld) and natural justice breaches (Junior Counsel to Gareth Beacham QC).
Ghella Pty Ltd and BMD Constructions Pty Ltd and Acciona Infrastructure Australia Pty Ltd (Trans City Joint Venture) v Energex - resisting challenges to an adjudicator's decision based on non-compliance with s17A(2) and 17(2)(a) of the BCIPA (Qld) and multiple alleged natural justice breaches (Junior Counsel to Damien O'Brien QC).
Civil Team Engineering Pty Ltd v Whitsunday Regional Council v Civil Team Engineering Pty Ltd - whether parties had reached a compromise (Junior Counsel to Gareth Beacham QC).
Whitsunday Regional Council v Civil Team Engineering Pty Ltd - severability of an adjudicator's decision under s.100(4) of the BCIPA (Qld) (Junior Counsel to Peter Franco QC).
BRB Modular Pty Ltd v AWX Constructions Pty Ltd [2015] QSC 218 (Justice Applegarth) - whether a 'reference date' arose under the BCIPA (Qld) - whether contractual pre-requisite of a statutory declaration was contrary to the Act and void by operation of s.99 (Junior Counsel to Peter Franco QC).
Liability limited by a scheme approved under professional standards legislation
