FEG Active Creditor Recovery Unit Director Henry Carr. As iNO reported recently, Commonwealth FEG recovery Czar Henry Carr doesn’t like losing which is why it’s no surprise to learn that the taxpayer-backed Active Creditor Unit has filed a notice of intention to appeal in respect of the decision In the matter of BCA National Training Group Pty Ltd (in liq) [2023] NSWSC 366.The notice was…
Cor Cordis partner Sam Kaso.Cor Cordis Melbourne partner Bruno Secatore.Cor Cordis duo Sam Kaso and Bruno Secatore will be relieved following a decision of the Federal Court delivered this week in Kaso (administrator), in the matter of Sanitation Maintenance Services Pty Ltd (administrators appointed) [2023] FCA 418.The pair were appointed administrators of Sanitation Maintenance Services and three related companies in July 2022.“It may be accepted…
Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. Hall Chadwick’s Richard Lawrence.A contested fee application scheduled for hearing in June is likely to give liquidators and the lawyers who act for them deep insights into how the courts view the always contentious issues of information provision, seniority and duplication of work.“I take issue with these allegations and moreover say that the ATO has no basis to question the rates…
PKF’s Brad Tonks.FEG Active Creditor Recovery Unit Director Henry Carr. There would have been only measured satisfaction in the offices of PKF partner Brad Tonks and his lawyers at O’Neill Partners after the NSW Supreme Court yesterday delivered them a potentially significant victory against the Commonwealth’s FEG Recovery Division in respect of the dreaded interplay of sections 556 and 561 of the Corporations Act (Corps…
Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. KordaMentha’s Richard Tucker.In insolvency, incumbency has its virtues, if for no other reason than that creditors desperate to have a voice might generally prefer the first devil presiding over their particular hell.And even when the incumbent is shown to charge more for the privilege of impaling claims on the trident of pari passu, being first has its advantages, as was seen…
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 week by…
Hamilton Murphy’s Stephen Dixon.The Federal Court has refused to find that Victoria Project Pty Ltd (VPPL) liquidator Stephen Dixon and his firm misled shareholders when he told them his fees to complete a members voluntary winding up (MVL) would be capped at $50,000 plus out of pocket expenses and GST. As is disclosed in Dixon (Liquidator), in the matter of Victoria Project Pty Ltd v…
Hall Chadwick’s Richard Lawrence.Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. A liquidators’ remuneration application lodged in the Supreme Court of Victoria is being opposed by The Australian Tax Office (ATO) on the basis that much of the work should have been performed by more junior staff.In an 82 page affidavit dated December 21, 2022 ATO senior insolvency advisor Gary Busby outlines six grounds of objection to the remuneration…
Mackay Goodwin’s Mitchell Ball. Mitchell Ball has chosen to abandon a final remuneration claim in the winding up of Speedy Ventilation Pty Ltd (Speedy) after a contributory asked the court to scrutinise the Mackay Goodwin director’s fees going back as far as 2016. “Mr Ball’s application for additional remuneration had the difficulty that, on any view, the remuneration claimed was large by reference to the…
Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. Hall Chadwick partner Kathleen Vouris. Reading the latest report to creditors from the liquidators of Orbis Commodities Pty Ltd, iNO is yet again moved to ponder on the wisdom of forcing appointment takers to provide a life-of-job fee estimate in their initial notice to creditors.When the estimate is between $50,000 and $100,000 and 18 months later the amount being sought exceeds…