SV Partners Perth Director Malcolm Field. One creditor wanted his proof of debt admitted in full. The liquidator admitted it in part. The rival creditor wanted it rejected completely. What judge wouldn’t invoke the Goldilocks premise? In this case the judicial eminence so moved was the Supreme Court of West Australia’s Master Craig Sanderson. His honour had been called upon to resolve a dispute between…
Inevitably, measures implemented to cope with COVID 19 lockdowns would generate consequences unforeseen but few could have predicted that an initiative intended to preserve jobs would lead to a judge slashing a liquidator’s fees. That however is precisely what’s happened to Jirsch Sutherland managing partner Bradd Morelli, who saw his claim for almost $25,000 in remuneration lopped by $10,000 after a judge ruled that by…
Deloitte partner David Lombe. FEG Active Creditor Recovery Unit Director Henry Carr. Documents filed in the Federal Court last week show that the FEG “Active Creditor” Recovery Unit has not missed the opportunity to remind the voluntary administrators (VAs) of Probuild of the need for candour when applying to courts to extend convening periods and personal liability protections. The Deloitte foursome appointed as VAs of…
Hall Chadwick’s Richard Lawrence. PKF’s Paul Allen. When liquidators get punted by creditors who then block payment of their unpaid fees, you know that the change of appointees represents not so much an end but a beginning. For Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran and Richard Lawrence, their role switched to that of the out-of-pocket ex-liquidators of Tauro Capital at a meeting of the company’s creditors on…
McGrathNicol’s Rob Kirman. McGrathNicol’s Rob Brauer. Questions of priority of entitlement to trust assets continue to vex even the most unflappable of insolvency practitioners and as a recent court judgment shows, even judicial eminences are wary of conclusive excess. In the matter of Francis (Trustee), in the matter of Fotios (Bankrupt) v Helios Corporation Pty Ltd [2022] FCA 199 Federal Court judge Craig Colvin explains…
Cor Cordis Melbourne partner Bruno Secatore. Cor Cordis partner Neil Cussen. You have to wonder why successful, experienced practitioners accept appointments as administrators when they know there’s winding up applications afoot, other entities in the group are already in liquidation and according to their DIRRI, no indemnity in the offing. Is it evidence of a healthy appetite for risk? Or the desperation that prevails in…
OPINION Less than 10 per cent of registered liquidators (RegLiqs) are female according to the latest ASIC data, suggesting initiatives aimed at increasing the proportion of female insolvency practitioners seeking and attaining registration are either inefficient or misguided. The Regulator’s latest Insolvency Statistics series, published in January 2022, shows there were 589 male RegLiqs domiciled in Australia and 57 female RegLiqs in the year 2020…
Deloitte’s Sal Algeri. The challenges of identifying assets and liabilities of Probuild would have been apparent to the four Deloitte partners appointed voluntary administrators (VAs) of the stricken builder last month very early on. They or their staff have undertaken engagements of various sorts for Probuild entities going back more than two years and in the week prior to their formal appointment they met with…
SM Solvency Accountants’ Jarrod Sierocki. Retired liquidator Brendan Nixon. iNO’s prediction that the retirement of Queensland liquidator Brendan Nixon would make it difficult for businessman Jarrod Sierocki to continue in the insolvency space appears to have come to pass. In recent weeks SM Solvency Accountants and Insolvency Guardian – the two main businesses through which Sierocki dabbled in the business of bankruptcy and wind up…
Deloitte’s Sal Algeri. Deloitte partner Jason Tracy. Immaterial. Every engagement. Every one of the $560,000-odd dollars Deloitte Australia billed and received from the insolvent Probuild construction group in the last two years, if not six months. All of it. Immaterial. So at least sayeth Deloitte partners Sal Algeri, Jason Tracy, David Orr and Matt Donnelly in their February 23, 2022 Declaration of Independence, Relevant Relationships…