Robson Cotter principal Roland Robson. A Queensland trustee in bankruptcy who landed a large and complex estate in early 2021 is now fighting to retain the appointment after one unsecured creditor lost patience and commenced proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia seeking orders that the trustee be removed. Whether the creditor’s impatience is justified however is something the court will have to decide. The…
BPS Resolved partner Max Prentice. A recent court judgment dismissing proceedings which have been previously litigated unsuccessfully in other courts provides useful insights for trustees who find themselves the object of sustained hostility. To sum up, in the absence of an individual being declared a vexatious litigant, the February 24 judgment of NSWC Supreme Court judge David Davies indicates that practitioners need to endure whatever…
Bankrupt dVT Group co-founder Antony de Vries. There you are, trying to enjoy retirement – albeit as an undischarged bankrupt – when the missus declares that being a part time ballet teacher leaves her both ill-equipped and without time to manage the marital super. Can a bloke not get a moment’s peace from the burden of managing money, even when you’re not supposed to have…
Vincents’ Nick Combis. Merchant Advisory’s Louisa Sijabat. A successful appeal in the Federal Court has left two registered trustees facing a hefty costs order from an unenviable position deep in the hole on their fees. The pair, who’ve been pursuing almost $550,000 they claimed the bankrupt had paid into his superannuation fund to defeat creditors, had opposed the appeal. But the decision handed down this…
Offerman’s Michael Brennan. Offerman’s Dennis Offerman. What’s the world come to when trustees have to provide explicit and detailed reasons for refusing a bankrupt’s request for documents? If trustees say complying with such a request could prejudice the interests of creditors and third parties and is unreasonable to boot then courts should bloody well accept them at their word. They’re officers of the court are…
SV Partners’ Fabian Micheletto. SV Partners’ Michael Carrafa. Contests about whether privilege has been waived are what life’s all about. Who doesn’t relish a hot war over confidential correspondence that may hold the potential to cause discomfort to those fighting for the right to stay shtum. “Even if the defendants’ submission is accepted as a correct characterisation of the facts, the submission falls well short…
PwC’s Andrew Scott. When rival parties propose their own trustees to sell property and there’s not even daylight between the contenders, how’s a judge to decide? The answer lies within Yat Kit Jong and Man Chun So – the Trustees of the Property of Ho Wah Au, a Bankrupt v Chow [2022] NSWSC 1595 which reveals that all things being equal, the plaintiff’s nominee generally…
CRS Warner principal Anthony Warner Being bankrolled by a creditor that’s in the construction game might qualify as the riskiest indemnity going for an external administrator litigating during our current economic tumult. When it comes to racking up insolvencies, building and construction muscles all other sectors aside in the race to the podium. That though is of no concern to the judicial eminences sitting on…
PCI Partners director Philip Newman. Was it a Ponzi scheme? Or were the monies invested in the The Edge, the now notorious betting scam operated by incarcerated racing identity Bill Vlahos, held on trust? That is one of the key questions at the heart of a dispute playing out in the Federal Court between Vlahos’s trustee in bankruptcy and at least some of the scores…
John Sheahan of Sheahan and Lock. SV Partners’ Victoria executive director Michael Carrafa. It’s a bankruptcy capable of generating gigawatts of positive publicity for an enterprising trustee. The bankrupt’s a convicted sex offender. The majority creditor is the offender’s victim. A court’s awarded that victim $5.3 million in damages and the bankrupt’s a retired pathology practice manager known for his support of the arts. Anyone…