Judgment

Worrells walloped in dispute with ex-partner

Oracle Advisory founder Nick Cooper. Worrells partner Paul Burness. There’ll be a gnashing of teeth among Worrells’ equity partners after a court ordered Worrells Services Pty Ltd (Services) – which houses the Worrells network’s liquidation file data – to pay indemnity costs to former Worrells South Australia (SA) partner Nick Cooper. In a recent judgment handed down by Supreme Court of South Australia judge Katrina…


SPL bid founders as judge queries “onerous” fee

WLP Restructuring’s Glenn Livingstone. Hall Chadwick partner Sule Arnautovic. Coming before a judge with an incompletely charted special purpose liquidator (SPL) application must be considered to be a fraught exercise. But when the aspiring SPL’s proposed funder also demands an ogre-sized serving of any proceeds of litigation well, why bother incurring the filing fee? In this case those applicants – Philip King’s Rockgold Holdings and…


Liquidators fail to have summonses dismissed

KPMG partner James Dampney. KPMG’s Peter Gothard. Electing to flog a chilled foods business to its main competitor has come back to bite current and ex-KPMG partners after they failed this week to have examinations summonses issued by the former owner of the business dismissed. On Wednesday in the NSW Supreme Court Judge Kate Williams ruled that Peter Gothard, James Dampney and former KPMG senior…


Bid to appeal indemnity costs crunched

I&R Advisory partner David Ross. Hall Chadwick partner Blair Pleash. There’s admirable persistence and then there’s futile pursuit. iNO would not presume to opine on where the line between the two lies and in fact, armed with the recent judgment of Ross (Liquidator) in the matter of Print Mail Logistics (International) Pty Ltd (In Liq) v Elias [2022] FCA 296, speculation is unnecessary. The judgement,…


Judge brands industry titan “dishonest”

KordaMentha’s Mark Korda. Can there be any greater threat to reputation than judicial authority publishing slanders whilst cloaked in absolute privilege? Certainly insolvency industry titan Mark Korda might not think so. Last week the man whose reputation as one of Australia’s preeminent insolvency practitioners and restructuring advisors has been forged over 40 years at the sharp end of corporate distress had his name besmirched in…


Spitfire decision adds to certainty around priority

Olvera Advisors’ Kate Barnet. Olvera Advisors’ Damien Hodgkinson. There would have been some fist pumping – as an expression of triumph of course – in the Barton Circuit offices of the FEG Recovery Unit last week after a judge ruled that the Commonwealth, subrogated to the rights of employees of a company in liquidation, took priority ahead of a secured creditor in respect of competing…


Liquidators ordered to pay $125k each

Pitcher Partners’ Andrew Yeo. Victorian liquidator Ross McDermott. It’s been some time but the wearisome tale of Lonnex, a company connected to the late Dr Geoffrey Edelstein, could be at an end after Pitcher Partners’ Andrew Yeo obtained court approval for a deal that ends the ongoing scrap between major creditor the ATO and Lonnex’s former liquidators. Details of this dispute’s seeming resolution were delivered…


IP’s lawyers bollocked after asking to adjourn hearing

Aston Chace principal Vincent Pirina. “A hearing is a hearing,” the judge said. “It is not an opportunity for parties to seek judicial advice”. And with those words the lawyers acting for Aston Chace principal Vincent Pirina knew instantly how little wriggle room they’ll be afforded when next they come before NSW Supreme Court judge Kate Williams to prosecute their client’s claim for fees. “It…


High Court refuses dVT duo’s Timbercorp appeal bid

Retired dVT Group co-founder Anton de Vries dVT Group partner Riad Tayeh The High Court of Australia has quietly restarted an unwelcome deadline for dVT Group founders Anton de Vries and Riad Tayeh. By refusing the pair’s application for special leave to appeal against a judgment of the Supreme Court of Victoria’s Court of Appeal in the matter of Timbercorp Finance Pty Ltd, the High…


Goldilocks and three bears analogy in debt proof tussle

SV Partners Perth Director Malcolm Field. One creditor wanted his proof of debt admitted in full. The liquidator admitted it in part. The rival creditor wanted it rejected completely. What judge wouldn’t invoke the Goldilocks premise? In this case the judicial eminence so moved was the Supreme Court of West Australia’s Master Craig Sanderson. His honour had been called upon to resolve a dispute between…