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Articles by Peter Gosnell

ATO, Creditors, Liquidations, Liquidators, SPL 2 August 2023

SPLs appointed as ATO renews assault on refiner

KordaMentha partner Rahul Goyal. KordaMentha partner Jenny Nettleton. The Deputy Commissioner of Taxation’s (DCoT’s) dogged interest in the moving minds behind Marrickville gold refiner Pallion Group took another turn this week with the Federal Court making orders appointing special purpose liquidators (SPLs) to ACN 607 537 548 Pty Ltd (ABCRA1). The intervention means KordaMentha partners Rahul Goyal and Jennifer Nettleton will now undertake investigatory matters…

Bankruptcy, Lawyers, Litigation, Trustees 28 July 2023

Mortgage of convenience foils trustee’s recovery effort

Hamilton Murphy partner Stephen Dixon. Steve Dixon must be considering his options after a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria refused the Hamilton Murphy partner’s application for orders declaring a mortgage invalid. In Dixon (as trustee of the bankrupt estate of Toufic Sassine) v Lennon & Anor [2023] VSC 426 Associate Justice Matthew Barrett concluded – having spent eight months deliberating – that he…

Administrators, Creditors, Social/Professional 26 July 2023

Toplace meeting comments confused a few

FerrierSilvia’s Brian Silvia. BRI Ferrier’s Andrew Cummins. iNO’s weren’t the only brows hoisted aloft when FerrierSilvia principal Brian Silvia appeared to tell creditors at the first meeting of Toplace Pty Ltd that he could draw on staff from BRI Ferrier NSW if he needed to bulk up for a big job. BRI Ferrier? Wasn’t Silvia’s 2020 departure from the firm he founded in 2008 –…

Administrators, Costs, Creditors, Fees, Liquidators, Litigation, Social/Professional 26 July 2023

Hall Chadwick partners’ fee fights on two fronts

McGrathNicol’s Rob Brauer. Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. Insolvency practitioners at Hall Chadwick are enmeshed in at least two fee fights at present and the common denominator in both is Sydney practice head Richard Albarran. iNO readers will be familiar with the travails being experienced by Albarran and outgoing Melbourne partner Richard Lawrence in respect of work they did on Tauro Capital (Tauro), an appointment they…

Administrators, Corporates, Creditors, Social/Professional 21 July 2023

Toplace creditors reject challengers

dVT Group partner Antony Resnick. dVT Group partner Suelen McCallum. For those attending online, sound drop outs, screen freezes and a constant hubbub of background blather plagued much of Wednesday’s first meeting of creditors of Toplace Pty Ltd, but joint administrators and meeting co-chairs Suelen McCallum and Antony Resnick can take comfort from the fact that despite the glitches, creditors refused to back their only…

Administrators, Bankruptcy, Corporates, Creditors, DIRRIs, Social/Professional, VA's & DoCA's 19 July 2023

“friendlies” talk stalks Toplace administrators

dVT Group co-founder Riad Tayeh It’s never helpful when a government official casts aspersions upon insolvency practitioners two days out from a first meeting of creditors of a controversy-plagued firm whose founder has fled the jurisdiction. That however is the scenario facing dVT Group’s Suelen McCallum and Antony Resnick as they prepare for the first meeting of creditors of controversial construction firm Toplace Pty Ltd…

Administrators, Conduct, Creditors, Deed Administrators, Judgment, Lawyers 19 July 2023

Appeals court finds 530A Report “misleading”

Lowe Lippmann partner Gideon Rathner. It had to take the long road but a persistent creditor has been vindicated in its bid to have a deed of company arrangement (DoCA) terminated after the Federal Court of Appeal last week found that the deed had been executed on the basis of materially misleading information. The impugned information was contained in a Section 530A Report provided to…

Regulation/Legislation, Social/Professional 14 July 2023

Insolvency Inquiry – The Recommendations

Committee chairman Senator Deborah O’Neill. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services released its report into Corporate Insolvency in Australia this week and the full list of the Committee’s recommendations can be viewed below, along with a link to the report. Unsurprisingly, the main recommendation of the Committee is that inquiries continue. The Committee has found that Australia’s insolvency regime is no longer…

Administrators, Costs, Creditors, Deed Administrators, indemnity, Judgment, Liquidators, VA's & DoCA's 12 July 2023

Unhelpful administrators cop costs penalty

Hogan Sprowles partner Michael Hogan. They may have recommended a dog of DoCA and been punted as a consequence but two Sydney practitioners are lucky they don’t have more wounds to lick. On Monday, NSW Supreme Court judge Ashley Black made costs orders in respect of Minle Wine Negociants of Australia Pty Ltd (Minle) after last week terminating a deed of company arrangement (DoCA) and…