ADVERTORIAL The Melbourne Insolvency Community will get together on Tuesday 30 November for a morning of short, sharp, terrific TED style presentations by top speakers followed by lunch and plenty of networking at the RACV Club. The AIIP’s mini conference styled “out on parole” includes a case study on the Equestrian Australia Voluntary Administration from Robert Dalton, CEO of Sport Australia, a session on eliminating…
Liquidator Moira Carter. When your funder is the major creditor by an insurmountable majority and wants you to use its preferred lawfirm, well, what’re you going to do? Particularly when your funder is that model of decorum in litigation, the Commonwealth. For one North Queensland liquidator, this scenario has armed enemies who are not only seeking to remove her but also want the Commonwealth’s proof…
RSM partner Neil Cribb. Sheridan’s Jennifer Low. As best we can tell RSM partner and West Australia insolvency veteran Neil Cribb has chosen not to appeal the November 11 decision of Federal Court judge Neil McKerracher in Cribb v Kingsbury (No 2) [2021] FCA 1397. “No doubt such cases will come in many different forms, but certainly in this case I do not consider Mr Kingsbury’s…
Crouch Amirbeaggi co-founder Nick Crouch. For at least a decade Nick Crouch has advocated for reform of insolvency laws with the aim of achieving a simpler regulatory regime for businesses seeking to survive, but now it’s the NSW north coast native’s own license to liquidate that’s under threat. Last week the Crouch Amirbeaggi co-founder was referred by ASIC to a Schedule 2 disciplinary committee, no…
Bradd Morelli may have, as a judge said this week, submitted a great many remuneration approval applications during his 15 years as a registered liquidator, but experience doesn’t excuse even veteran practitioners from providing supporting evidence sufficient for courts to affirm applications for fees. “I don’t have the evidence necessary to determine it.” Justice Ashley Black. That maxim, or at least the version Morelli’s solicitor…
Justice Michael Lee. When a judge describes lawyers fee estimates as “massively excessive” you have to wonder why such a wrecking ball descriptor is prefaced with the phrase “with respect”? Condemnation of legal fees reeking of avaricious opportunism however is not an issue from which Federal Court judge Michael Lee shies away. “I don’t want there to be wheel spinning correspondence between solicitors.” Justice Michael…
Menzies Advisory’s Michael Caspaney. Cor Cordis partner Rachel Burdett. There are so many elements to the Modscape Pty Ltd saga that it’s difficult to know which strand to yank first but in homage to our abyssal tabloid instincts iNO will commence with the most recent, involving a former liquidator of the company whose fees and costs are under review. That review has been brought by…
Hamilton Murphy’s Stephen Dixon. Liquidator Ahmed Bise. Invalidity of appointment, inadequate attention to Consumer Credit codes, trespass even. Two recent judgments of Supreme Court of Victoria judge Peter Riordan show why it is wise to know one’s appointor, and even wiser to verify their security. Stephen Dixon and Ahmed Bise, the unfortunate pair in this salutary tale were, at the time of their first appointment…
Grocon Group deed administrator Craig Shepard. Hastie Group liquidator Craig Crosbie. There may well have been terse words, a chilling silence, or even diverse and inclusive profanity when KordaMentha’s Craig Shepard learned last week that Hastie Group liquidator Craig Crosbie had wrangled a decisive grant of leave. Shepherd – in his capacity as deed administrator of the Grocon Group – has been resisting efforts by…
Cor Cordis partner Andre Lakomy. A falling out between Sydney lender Graham Werry and notorious Kiwi businessman Mark Bryers has led a judge to mete out more punishment to litigation funders, and for good measure she’s also torn strips off a certain liquidator’s solvency reports. In the matter of Wetherill Park Holdings Pty Ltd (No 2) [2021] NSWSC 1397 NSW Supreme Court judge Kelly Rees…