Begbies Traynor partner Paul Cooper. Begbies Traynor partner Paul Appleton. They might be experienced insolvency practitioners from the old country but Paul Cooper and Paul Appleton have slipped up down under by failing to present a creditors petition within the required time frame, a lapse that last week earned them an adverse costs order from Federal Court judge Berna Collier. “The more likely situation appears…
Jirsch Sutherland’s Malcolm Howell. More than four years after the FEG Recovery Division (FEG) unpinned the grenade it had prepared for the receivers of Castel Electronics Pty Ltd (Castel), the now ex-receivers have obtained court-sanctioned indemnification from their appointor’s parent. In Department of Employment and Workplace Relations v Howell, in the matter of Castel Electronics Pty Ltd (No 3) [2026] FCA 266 Federal Court judge…
Pilot Partners’ Cameron Woodcroft. When lawyers succeed in replacing a resistant liquidator look out. The prospect of indemnity costs occupies the frontal lobes so completely avidity flows like venom. “Any suggestion by the plaintiffs that the liquidator defended the proceeding in his own interests, rather than those of the creditors is rejected. There is no evidence to bear out that suggestion or submission. As the…
FTI Holdings’ Chris Hill. Seeking remuneration from funds to which they have no entitlement shows the commitment some receivers have to the concept of doing right by one’s appointor. “Get your fees from anywhere but us if you want future work” lenders might murmur to those upon whom they bequeath lucrative recovery appointments, and it’s not like Chris Hill, Vaughan Strawbridge and Hayden White don’t…
O’Brien Palmer’s Daniel Frisken. It all started in 2021, when a judge of the NSW Supreme Court made orders certifying a receiver’s accounts. Explicit in those orders was a carve out to ensure the court’s imprimatur did not extend to certain “professional fees” and “photocopying charges” billed by Sydney lawyer Farshad Amirbeaggi. “According to Mr Bumble in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, “the law is an ass”. When dealing…
Olvera Advisors’ Tony Wright. Olvera Advisors’ Michael Billingsley. Denial of indemnity is the unhappiest of Christmas gifts and it’s one Olvera Advisors duo Michael Billingsley and Tony Wright will have to accept this festive season. “Whether the administrators were simply misguided as to their responsibilities, blindly resolute in sticking to the usual course of administrators’ investigations and accordingly unresponsive to what the new circumstances demanded…
Vincents director Nick Combis. When a judge orders a receiver’s remuneration to be fixed in the amount of zilch, iNO knows there’s a yarn in the offing and in the matter of White Rook Pty Ltd v White Horizon Pty Ltd [2025] QSC 262 Vincents‘ director Nick Combis has all but written it for us. “In short, the receiver’s claim was dismissed after counsel instructed…
Deloitte’s David Lombe. If the remains of failed financial engineer Babcock & Brown Limited retain even a skerrick of contestable value then litigation funder Bookarelli Pty Ltd surely represents the most determined maggot on the carcass. “… if the Deed is terminated, rescinded or otherwise expires, all provisions of the Deed that are to the Liquidator’s or the Company’s advantage will survive, however those provisions…
TTJ Advisory’s Thyge Trafford-Jones. Thyge Trafford-Jones has had some success in his capacity as liquidator of Special Gold Pty Ltd but last week the Federal Court dealt him the costs equivalent of a fat lip after he refused a settlement offer from Rami Ayoub, the $22,000 per month restructuring advisor of bankrupt Dyldam founder Sam Fayad. “As I have found that Special Gold has not…
Liquidator Robyn Erskine. The Federal Court’s latest decision in respect of the North Shore Developments debacle gives us another opportunity to wonder at the gap between justice and law, and how widely at times it yawns. “Although the fraud itself is to be deplored, the Court’s discretion in relation to costs under s 43 of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) is not…