Judgment

UK IPs lap it up as OZ RLs pine for decent drink

Savants Adrian Duncan. The relative difference in rates of insolvency appointments between the UK and Australia has been starkly illustrated in a NSW Supreme Court judgment involving one of the founders of failed share market hopeful Knights Insolvency Administration. UK based chartered accountant Adrian Duncan was one of two vendors who took the doomed Knights insolvency model to investors back when the irrational exuberance of…


HIH keeps on keeping on as McGrath signs off

Tony McGrath. McGrathNicol Partner Kathy Sozou. “You only get one HIH in a lifetime of liquidations” insolvency veteran Tony McGrath might by moved to say as he finalises one of, if not the last of his formal insolvency appointments in pursuit of life as consultant, expert witness and independent company director. The imagined comment – fashioned from the late Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer’s famous quip…


Liquidator overturns breach of fiduciary duty finding

CRS Warner principal Anthony Warner Insolvency Experts’ principal Steve Kugel. Sydney liquidator Anthony Warner has had a partial but important win this week in his marathon dust up with former business partner and liquidator Steve Kugel. In Warner Capital Pty Ltd v Shazbot Pty Ltd [2020] NSWCA 121 three judges of the NSW Supreme Court’s Court of Appeal on Wednesday overturned the decision of Justice…


Ex-Jirsch partner tricked brother into signing cheques

Amanda Young. Former Jirsch Sutherland partner Amanda Young allegedly tricked her brother into signing cheques drawn on a liquidation account then deposited the funds into three of her personal credit card accounts, a disciplinary committee has found. Young allegedly deceived her older brother, Jirsch Sutherland partner Sule Arnautovic, by presenting him with multiple cheques to sign in his capacity as liquidator of the St Gregory’s…


SV Partners boss to pay developer’s costs

SV Partners managing director Terry van der Velde. Where would the legal profession be without property development and the limitless labyrinth of opportunity for dispute that bricks and mortar afford? That’s the question that comes to mind on reading the judgement of Federal Court judge Kathleen Farrell in Campbell v van der Velde as trustee of the bankrupt estate of Marilyn Anne Rowan, in the matter…


ATO-backed liquidators cede case to Family Court

Pitcher Partners’ Andrew Yeo. Pitcher Partners’ Gess Rambaldi. They may not be overly bothered but Pitcher Partners’s Andrew Yeo and Gess Rambaldi have had to relinquish a case involving accused phoenix mastermind Phil Whiteman and his de facto wives. The pair have been pursuing recovery of the proceeds of sale of residential properties located in Balaclava, Elwood and Port Melbourne, Victoria. As the liquidators of…


Liquidator avoids restraint as creditor seeks injunction

Sydney liquidator Steve Nicols will have a tale to tell once orders stemming from the decisions of Justice Stephen Robb in Molenaar v Nicols [2020] NSWSC 674 surface, most likely next week. This is a case where the court’s been asked to resolve vexed questions about the extent to which its powers can be used to restrain a liquidator in administering an insolvent entity’s affairs…


KPMG partner’s insistence “disappointing”: QNI Judge

KPMG’s Peter Gothard. Whilst the real pain of Wednesday’s judgment in Parbery & Ors v QNI Metals Pty Ltd & Ors [2020] QSC 143 will be felt by QNI’s general purpose liquidators (GPL) FTI Holdings, Queensland Supreme Court judge Debra Mullins didn’t pull any punches when it came to a couple of elements of the testimony of KPMG partner Peter Gothard. Gothard had been brought…


Cor Cordis boss to pay Last Lap costs personally

Cor Cordis Melbourne partner Bruno Secatore. The 28 plus year long liquidation of Last Lap Pty Ltd makes one wonder just how many insolvency practitioners will get to take a lap around this seemingly eternal liquidation, but for the moment we’ll focus on the incumbent, Bruno Secatore. Last week the Federal Court handed down its decision in Secatore, in the matter of Last Lap Pty…


Fellmane contradictors foil receiver’s cunning plan

Hogan Sprowles’ Brendan Copeland. Those of you with a taste for the intricacies inherent in right of subrogation questions will, In the matter of Fellmane Pty Ltd (in liq) [2020] NSWSC, 595, find much meat in which to sink your fangs. In this matter Hogan Sprowles partner Brendan Copeland has had to go back to the drawing board after a planned sale of an asset…