Directors

Low sets sights high as Pitchers WA chief gets grilled

Sheridan’s Chartered Accountants principal Jennifer Low. Pitcher Partners’ Bryan Hughes. Torrid times in the West last week as the managing partner of Pitcher Partners WA was grilled in a Supreme Court witness box at the behest of a rival liquidator. The occasion was the public examination of directors and others linked to the 2018 failure of Titan Interactive Pty Ltd, which in recent times has…


Liquidator’s ordeal in witness box ends – for now

Worrells partner Jason Bettles. Editor’s Note: On Friday, August 18, 2023 Justice Brigitte Markovic of the Federal Court of Australia dismissed ASIC’s case against liquidator Jason Bettles and ordered the regulator to pay Bettles’ costs. While ASIC landed no killer blow yesterday Worrells partner Jason Bettles could not be said to have exited the Federal Court witness box unburdened by any remaining questions in respect…


Identity doubts cloud liquidator’s bid to secure assets

BRI Ferrier’s Peter Krejci. A judge hearing a motion days out from the hearing of a bid for orders that disputed assets belong to a company in liquidation and not its underlying trust said yesterday that the case involves features he’s not encountered in 40 years of practising law. “You were attempting to elicit the truth, and legal proceedings sometimes stand in the way of…


When a surplus doesn’t satisfy

Mackay Goodwin’s Mitchell Ball. You’d think a liquidator who’s scraped together enough moola to declare a surplus might earn some plaudits from the intended recipients. Many if not most liquidations after all generate nothing more than zero for creditors and hours of unremunerated work for appointees, so any kind of recovery is grounds for relief if not celebration. Expressions of gratitude from certain stakeholders in…


When objectors becomes adversaries liquidators win

Darryl Kirk of Cor Cordis Brisbane. Well it turns out that when objectors to a liquidator’s remuneration application becomes in the court’s eyes adversaries, they can be liable for the liquidator’s costs of responding. The decision in question can be found at: Manicaros v Commercial Images (Aust) Pty Ltd [2022] QSC 83 which tells of the stiff resistance Cor Cordis partner Darryl Kirk encountered in…


Alleged asset recovery failure plagues ex-appointee

Sydney liquidator Greg Parker has suffered another blow in his ongoing stoush with the former directors of Worldwide Specialty Property Services (WSPS) as he defends allegations of negligence and claims for damages. As explained in Lee v Parker (No 2) [2022] FCA 582 Parker last week lost his bid to force the ex-directors to stump up more than $500,000 in security for costs. The Clarence…


Pre-insolvency advisory fingered in phoenix judgment

PKF’s Petr Vrsecky. PKF partner Glenn Franklin. There was much hyperventilating last week after delivery of judgment in the matter of Intellicomms Pty Ltd (in liq) [2022] VSC 228 which record the first application of new laws aimed at combatting illegal phoenix activity. While it’s early days and the judgment could be overturned on appeal, few of the breathless commentators who explored this inaugural application…


VA defeats “disruptive humbug” amid ad valorem bid

SV Partners’ David Stimpson. A recent judgment of Queensland Supreme Court judge David Jackson contains a wealth of insight into issues of relevance to insolvency practitioners, most notably those of solvency or insolvency, validity of appointment, remuneration and last but not least, disruptive humbug. Whilst the judgment represents an exceptional reference for practitioners and their legal advisors alike, some thought must be spared for the…


Liquidator repels conflict and removal bid

Liquidator Gavin Moss. Photo: iNO Images A recent decision out of the NSW Supreme Court shows how liquidators using the same lawyer who acts for creditors or the liquidator’s funder can quell conflict concerns. In this case Chifley Advisory principal Gavin Moss had to defend himself from allegations of multiple conflict-related breaches of duty by Ian Dresner, the director of churrasco operator Fogo Brazilia Holdings…


Administrator ditched after ATO loses patience

Morton + Lee Insolvency’s Gavin Morton. No practitioner likes being replaced just when the labour of administration looks set to moderate courtesy of a deed proposal but unsecureds can be restive beasts, particularly when they are the ATO. Last month it was the turn of Queensland liquidator Gavin Morton to test the Commonwealth debt collector’s patience in relation to a Deed of Company Arrangement (DoCA)…