If the former receivers of Hastie Services continue resisting Henry Carr and his FEG Recovery Team to the point where their dispute goes to hearing then the insolvency profession at large might derive some benefit, at least in terms of clarity on currently clouded questions as to costs. (Apologies for the absence of an alliteration alert). Carr and his recovery team are adamant that the…
On Monday dVT partners Riad Tayeh and David Solomon narrowly avoided an indemnity costs order sought by their old mates from the Department of Employment’s FEG Recovery Unit. FEG had sought orders that Tayeh and Solomons personally pay FEG’s costs of proceedings it brought in November 2017 to have the dVT’s pair replaced as liquidators of Damilcrest Pty Ltd after they had previously declined three times to resign voluntarily…
Some time this morning the Queensland Court of Appeal will deliver its judgment on the appeal against the April 2017 ruling of Queensland Supreme Court Judge David J Jackson, who determined that the liquidators of Linc Energy were not entitled to instruct the company to ignore an environmental protection order (EPO) issued after their appointment as voluntary administrators (VAs) in April 2016. SiN understands that with…
PwC’s Derrick Vickers and the Committee of Inspection (COI) of the failed construction contractor Ostwald Bros Pty Ltd (OB) are set to clash when the parties convene next week for the hearing of Vicker’s rule 80-55 court application to validate transactions he entered into with various former COI members whilst trading OB in administration and in liquidation. Minutes of an informal COI meeting held yesterday reveal…
Well the champagne corks would’ve been popping down in the Canberra offices of FEG Recovery Czar Henry Carr this week – metaphorically of course – after the decision of the Victorian Supreme Court’s Court of Appeal in Commonwealth v Byrnes and Hewitt [2018] VSCA 41 (28 February 2018), more commonly known as Amerind. As was succinctly articulated by Melbourne barrister Carrie Rome-Sievers, the decision puts…
The Department of Employment’s FEG Recovery Unit has forced the adjournment of an application by PwC’s Derrick Vickers seeking to validate transactions he entered into with various creditors of failed construction contractor, Ostwald Bros Pty Ltd (OB). Vickers had sought to kick off the application on Wednesday but the FEG team turned up and were successful in having the matter adjourned until March 13. According to sources close…
Our coverage in Robinson’s Reed Blitz Could Attract FEG Attention prompted PPB Advisory partner Mark Robinson to counter with information he believes extinguishes any suggestion that the Commonwealth via the FEG Recovery Unit might be entitled to consider it has a priority claim on funds recovered so far. Robinson pointed out that when Reed’s directors placed the company into voluntary administration (VA) back in June 2012, Ferrier…
PPBA partner Mark Robinson has been running hard on the Reed Constructions case these last five and half years so SiN took a look at the most recent statement of accounts and minutes of meetings to see what he’s been getting for his efforts. Backed with funds from Pat Maloney’s Litigation Capital Management, Robinson has been pursuing an insolvent trading claim against two Reed directors, Geoff Reed and Derry Hill, who…
The year is done, Christmas is come and for SiN it is time to replenish the reservoir of curiosity ahead of what promises to be a fascinating 2018. From next year the Insolvency Law Reform Act (ILRA) will be in full swing. Insolvency practitioners will face a world where creditors will have expanded powers. Appointees will need to get used to being replaced. Courts too…
These days the term Disruption brings to mind new digital-based business models, demolishing the foundations of commerce with fiendishly clever and wholly amoral algorithms – but as the proceedings launched recently by the Department of Employment (DoE) against McGrathNicol demonstrate, disruption can be about new law, and the will to execute. Late last month the DoE filed a statement of claim in the Federal Court alleging breaches of…