Real Housewives ex sued for ‘unpaid’ legals for Qld development business
The former partner of a Real Housewives of Melbourne star has been slapped with a $176,000 lawsuit over allegedly unpaid legal fees to a Queensland law firm.
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The former partner of a Real Housewives of Melbourne star has been slapped with a $176,000 lawsuit over allegedly unpaid legal fees to a Queensland law firm.
Dean Giannarelli, who dated barrister Gina Liano for 12 years, has been sued by Brisbane law firm AJ and Co Lawyers Pty Ltd in Brisbane District Court.
The firm claims that Mr Giannarelli, 69, from Port Melbourne in Victoria, business partner Rosario Pelligra, 44, from Keilor East in Victoria, and Pelligra’s company Main Beach Developments Qld Pty Ltd (MBDQ) signed litigation agreements with the firm last year.
The agreements allegedly obliged them to pay for work performed by the law firm between August and November, but they did not stump up the cash, the claim states.
“Despite multiple demands, the defendant has failed and/or refused to pay any of the debt,” the claim filed on January 13 states.
The work varied from drafting and negotiating a “put-and-call option deed” for a Main Beach apartment in May 2022, legal work for the proposed purchase of 48 prime beachfront apartments in Broadbeach worth $40m in the 43-year-old Sandpiper tower in April 2022, as well as confidentiality and exclusivity deeds in June.
Lawyer Andrew Johnson is the sole director of AJ and Co, and it was Mr Giannarelli who approached Mr Johnson on August 22, 2022 to hire the firm to act in the Victorian Supreme Court after they were served with an injunction application, court documents state.
The $176,949 debt claimed includes invoices for $84,568 sent in August, $2330 in September, $54,836 in November, and another for $4296 in November.
On top of this AJ and Co is claiming $5181 for the put-and-call option deed, and $5324 for the proposed purchase from Sandpiper Developments of the 48 apartments on Old Burleigh Rd Broadbeach.
During their relationship Mr Giannarelli and Ms Liano were often photographed at glamorous social events.
Mr Giannarelli and Mr Pelligra are the developers behind the $480m redevelopment of Mariner’s Cove with a Ritz-Carlton luxury hotel and superyacht marina on the Gold Coast next door to the Palazzo Versace hotel on Sea World Drive.
The proposed Mariner’s Cove development is still subject to development application approval.
No defence has been filed and no date has been set for hearing.
AJ and Co solicitor Ashley Stanton declined to comment when approached by The Sunday Mail.
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