When Edmund Brown purchased his quiet coastal home in 2015 with his partner, Irena Saric, the couple never imagined that the most dangerous threat to their property would come not from bushfires or floods — but from next door.
Their neighbour at Gosford, Etna Developments, had ambitious plans. The company, controlled by the Kalantzis family, set out to carve a deep excavation pit into the hillside to build 53 apartments.
The site sat directly beside Brown’s property at Gosford, where his house was perched on a battle-axe block supported by fill and a long-elevated driveway just metres from the shared western boundary.
From the very start, experts warned the Etna project was risky. A 2015 geotechnical report made it crystal clear: there was a high risk of landslip if it proceeded without substantial stabilisation measures. Specifically, the report recommended CFA piles — deep concrete pillars driven into bedrock — to protect the western boundary before any excavation began.
The Kalantzis family ignored the warnings.
Nutek Constructions the builder run by brothers Nick, Kon, and their nephew Frank Kalantzis (who was director in name only), pressed ahead with site preparation in 2017.
Brown noticed the first visible signs of damage in late 2019: driveway slabs tilting toward the excavation pit and early cracks in the house’s brickwork. By 2020, parts of the property became increasingly unstable.
The problems escalated dramatically in March 2021. As Nutek excavated deeper, a major landslip occurred under Brown’s driveway. A power pole situated on Brown’s land tilted dangerously, eventually forcing Ausgrid to cut off electricity altogether for safety reasons.
Brown and Saric were forced to survive on camping gear and gas cookers inside their own home. Their property became virtually inaccessible to vehicles.
Desperate to resolve the unfolding disaster, Kon Kalantzis made an offer to purchase Brown’s property for $670,000. But after some initial interest, the transaction fell apart when financing could not be arranged.
A lawsuit was inevitable but by the time the case reached trial, both Etna and Nutek had been placed into administration or liquidation.
But the corporate structures they used to shield Nick and Kon proved to be useless in circumstances where the brothers knew of the original geotechnical report and deliberately disregarded its advice.
The court found that were de facto directors who exercised full control over the project from the beginning.
Justice Kelly Rees found both Nick and Kon’s evidence evasive, self-serving, and simply untrue. Nick was confronted during cross-examination with a video in which he had said that “lawyers and courts don’t worry me, they’re like cockroaches”.
Brown’s geotechnical expert, James Ball, and Nutek’s expert, Daniel Phillips, ultimately agreed that had the CFA piles and appropriate drainage been installed as originally recommended, the landslip would have been avoided.
Justice Rees found Nick, Kon and Frank personally liable for trespass and negligence, ordering that they and their collapsed corporate entities compensate Brown and Saric for the full cost of stabilising and rectifying the damage including for further engineering works, earth retention, drainage and structural remediation. Total damages nearly $2.2 million.
Brown v Etna Developments Pty Ltd (surveillance devices) [2025] NSWSC 218 Rees J, 30 April 2025
