Judgment

ARITA subpoenaed as Cor Cordis duo biff with insurer

Cor Cordis NSW partner Ozem Kassem. Image courtesy Cor Cordis. It’s probably not every day the chief professional body for registered liquidators and bankruptcy trustees cops a subpoena but it happened recently in regard to former member and Cor Cordis partner Ozem Kassem. Kassem was expelled from Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association (ARITA) in April 2018 for refusing to engage an independent assessor to…


Liquidator to appeal personal costs order

Liquidator Schon Condon. Unreasonable and adversarial are terms no liquidator wants used to characterise their conduct and iNO’s mail is that Parramatta-based practitioner Schon Condon will appeal a judgment that’s branded him as both and labelled him a recidivist into the bargain.  In the matter of Azmac Pty Limited (in liquidation) (No 2) [2020] NSWSC 363 NSW Supreme Court judge Kelly Rees last week ordered…


Judge dismisses bid for leave to sue liquidators

dVT’s Riad Tayeh dVT’s Antony de Vries There’s a line in the television series Mad Men where Roger Sterling of fictional advertising agency Sterling Cooper says: “advertising’s a great business, except for the clients”. Some Liquidators might feel that sentiment could equally apply to the business of insolvency, except “clients” – at least in the case of dVT founders Anton de Vries and Riad Tayeh…


SPL gunning for dVT duo

Approved and funded to pursue: SPL Giles Woodgate. Sydney liquidator Giles Woodgate has won backing to pursue dVT Consulting duo Suelen McCallum and Riad Tayeh for possible breach of contract or negligence. In the matter of ACN 152 546 453 Pty Ltd (Formerly Hemisphere Technologies Pty Ltd (In Liq)) [2020] NSWSC 270 NSW Supreme court judge Arthur Emmett this week agreed to extend Woodgate’s powers…


Related party defendants fail in bid for exclusion

Grant Thornton’s David Hodgson. Grant Thornton’s Andrew Hewitt. Over in the sand groper state Grant Thornton’s David Hodgson and Andrew Hewitt have had some joy as they herd related-party creditors acting like aristocratic cats unwilling to mix with those common moggies in receipt of garden-variety preferences. In David Mark Hodgson as joint and several liquidators of Diploma Construction (WA) Pty Ltd (In LIQ) (Receivers and…


Liquidator’s debt proof rejection could cost

Liquidator Schon Condon. A decision by a Sydney liquidator to refuse the bulk of a $423,935.53 proof of debt looks set to be reversed following the handing down of a judgment in the NSW Supreme Court. In the matter of Azmac Pty Limited (in liquidation) [2020] NSWSC 204 Justice Kelly Rees details how Schon Condon, as liquidator of Azmac Pty Limited, knocked back the bulk…


UK judges side with Oz Liqs over spreadsheet error

If you are in doubt about the capacity for bloody-mindedness among and within the big four accounting firms read on as iNO recounts how administrators of a Lehman Brothers entity in the UK and Lehman-associated liquidators in Australia slugged it out in the courts for almost four years over an error in a spreadsheet. The tale comes courtesy of the Royal Courts of Justice in…


Liquidator to pay NRL costs as summonses set aside

Anequity principal Andrew Needham. Sydney liquidator Andrew Needham may be ruing the day he consented to act as liquidator of a company with potential claims against the National Rugby League (NRL) in the wake of judgment In the matter of Newheadspace Pty Limited (in liq) [2020] NSWSC 173. On Wednesday NSW Supreme Court judge Kelly Rees ordered that examination summonses issued to NRL chief executive…


VA too late to South Pelagic Holdings hungi

DW Advisory’s Paul Weston. Worrells’ Simon Cathro. Paul Weston probably knew when he accepted the appointment as voluntary administrator (VA) of the Kiwi-controlled South Pelagic Holdings Pty Ltd (receivers and managers appointed) that his tenure could be brief. By the time lawyer Michael O’Neill brought the referral to the now ex-Pitcher Partners‘ partner in December 2019, receivers were installed and winding up proceedings underway. Weston…


At liberty to make misery but so far nothing to show

KordaMentha’s Rahul Goyal. KordaMentha’s Jennifer Nettleton Rahul Goyal and Jennifer Nettleton have been granted liberty to make misery for rival Schon Condon as they ponder whether or not to pursue a special costs order against him. Being the special purpose liquidators (SPLs) of former precious metal refiner ACN 154 520 199 Pty Ltd, the KordaMentha pair recently applied for approval of almost $385,000 in fees…