Meertens’ James McPherson. Hall Chadwick partner David Trim. Only in South Australia? Harsh perhaps but where an application was made by a creditor for the issue of examination summonses to individuals – some of whom weren’t directors or officers of the relevant company – shortly before the liquidator appointed filed a notice of intention to retire? Well then, the question must be asked. The liquidator’s…
Cathro Partners’ Henry Kazar. Switching from Mills Oakley to ERA may have injected fresh impetus into Henry Kazar’s pursuit of funds allegedly diverted by the controllers of Canberra-based labor hire outfit PF1 Solutions Pty Ltd (PF1) but it’s come at a cost, with a court this week ordering Kazar to find $75,000 to stump up for security for costs. The order – made in PF1…
Trustee Ross Thomson It might seem like trustees in good standing with Tim Beresford are thin on the ground but unless the Inspector General in Bankruptcy (IGB) intends to further burden the Official Trustee’s workforce then Beresford will soon be farming out a swathe of estates to private practitioners thanks to Justice Darren Jackson of the West Australian division of the Federal Court. “…. her…
Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. Stewart Wilkinson of Blackbird First Mortgage Corporation is a lucky man. There’s not too many lenders who can so consistently obtain consents from Hall Chadwick’s head partner Richard Albarran, the force behind Hall Chadwick’s global expansion. Nevertheless it’s almost as if when Blackbird calls, Albarran, like an ardent suitor appears, frequently to take the role of receiver over assets pledged by…
WLP Restructuring’s Glenn Livingstone. The legal profession crowed in concert on May 15 when NSW Supreme Court judge Peter Brereton threw a lifeline to Hudson Global Resources (AUST) Pty Limited (HGRA), one of the Albanese government’s preferred labour hire firms and a recidivist tax evader. Justice Brereton’s decision In the matter of Hudson Global Resources (Aust) Pty Limited [2026] NSWSC 535 stayed the effect of…
BDO national leader, business restructuring, Duncan Clubb. Three BDO partners have had zero luck gambling on a scantily supported claim, with the Federal Court dismissing their application for recovery of an alleged inter-company debt and ordering them to pay the defendant’s costs. In Marsden, in the matter of Empire Consortium Group Pty Ltd (in liq) v Nationwide Plant Hire Pty Ltd [2026] FCA 911 Justice…
Cor Cordis Perth partner Tom Birch. Recommendations as to DoCA proposals are odd phenomena, seemingly existing only to fulfil the requirements of S439A. Beyond that they’re ephemera, to be disowned the moment creditors reject an administrator’s choice, as events in the saga of Mine & Rail Company Pty Ltd (MRC) usefully illustrate. ” .. counsel for Tacora identified several matters which may provide a basis…
Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. Why would a prominent insolvency practitioner with an eye for value threaten to sell an operational charter vessel for peanuts? That’s one of the questions the operators of Kimberley Pearl Tours Pty Ltd (KPT) posed earlier this year when they went to the Federal Court to challenge various aspects of their arrangements with their lender Blackbird Private Equity Pty Ltd, the…
McGrathNicol partner Shaun Fraser. It would have topped off a very successful winding up if Shaun Fraser and Jonathan Henry could’ve binned an inconveniently airtight royalty agreement attaching to the operations of the Tahmoor Coal mine. But it wasn’t to be. Last Friday a judge of the NSW Supreme Court refused the Tahmoor Coal Pty Ltd (Tahmoor) liquidators’ application for a declaration that they would…
O’Brien Palmer’s Daniel Frisken. Whatever remained of any referral relationship that may have existed between Daniel Frisken and former Madison Marcus (MM) partner Gerard Breen breathed its last on June 9. On that day lawyers acting for the O’Brien Palmer partner filed a statement of claim against Breen seeking damages in relation to the drafting of documentation for the E K Recruitment Pty Limited deed…