Developer Damien Cavallucci dodges $6.1m payout after court overturns Newstead penthouse ruling

Damien Cavallucci’s CAV Gasworks Pty Ltd has won a landmark court ruling A high-profile developer who tore up an off-the-plan contract and resold two luxury penthouses for double the price has dodged a $6.1 million payout in a shock court win. Queensland’s highest court has ruled Damien Cavallucci’s CAV Gasworks Pty Ltd acted lawfully when it cancelled Brisbane businesswoman Yiping Jiang’s 2017 purchase of two sub-penthouses in Newstead’s Luminare high-rise. After terminating the $4.2m contract with Ms Jiang’s company under a 5.5-year sunset clause in April 2023, the developer on-sold the two properties to new buyers for a combined total of $8.8m later that year. The 2023 building was one of Brisbane’s most luxurious high rises Ms Jiang initially sued, basing her lawsuit on an even higher figure by arguing the penthouses’ market value had skyrocketed to $10.3m by early 2024. She won a staggering $6,097,841.42 in Supreme Court damages in 2025 for lost capital gains, but the Court of Appeal sensationally stripped her of the payout in a 2-1 majority on Friday. Adding salt to the wound, the court ordered Ms Jiang’s company to pay the developer’s legal costs for both the original Suprem...