BPS Resolved partner Max Prentice. A recent court judgment dismissing proceedings which have been previously litigated unsuccessfully in other courts provides useful insights for trustees who find themselves the object of sustained hostility. To sum up, in the absence of an individual being declared a vexatious litigant, the February 24 judgment of NSWC Supreme Court judge David Davies indicates that practitioners need to endure whatever…
Victorian liquidator Peter Goodin. We hear much about first responders but not so much about non responders. We might however hear a bit more after a Victorian liquidator was ordered to personally pay more than $21,000 in indemnity costs after he repeatedly failed to respond to a creditor’s correspondence. Given that the creditor had wanted the meeting to consider a resolution to replace the incumbent…
Vincents’ Nick Combis. Merchant Advisory’s Louisa Sijabat. A successful appeal in the Federal Court has left two registered trustees facing a hefty costs order from an unenviable position deep in the hole on their fees. The pair, who’ve been pursuing almost $550,000 they claimed the bankrupt had paid into his superannuation fund to defeat creditors, had opposed the appeal. But the decision handed down this…
Offerman’s Michael Brennan. Offerman’s Dennis Offerman. What’s the world come to when trustees have to provide explicit and detailed reasons for refusing a bankrupt’s request for documents? If trustees say complying with such a request could prejudice the interests of creditors and third parties and is unreasonable to boot then courts should bloody well accept them at their word. They’re officers of the court are…
Hogan Sprowles’ Brendan Copeland. If you’re going to ask a court to find that a director traded a company whilst it was insolvent, you need to know the dates on which the relevant debts were incurred. As one Sydney liquidator recently discovered, failing to do so can be fatal for your statement of claim and it’s never fun to find a costs order tacked to…
SV Partners’ Fabian Micheletto. SV Partners’ Michael Carrafa. Contests about whether privilege has been waived are what life’s all about. Who doesn’t relish a hot war over confidential correspondence that may hold the potential to cause discomfort to those fighting for the right to stay shtum. “Even if the defendants’ submission is accepted as a correct characterisation of the facts, the submission falls well short…
Hamilton Murphy’s Stephen Dixon. The Federal Court has refused to find that Victoria Project Pty Ltd (VPPL) liquidator Stephen Dixon and his firm misled shareholders when he told them his fees to complete a members voluntary winding up (MVL) would be capped at $50,000 plus out of pocket expenses and GST. As is disclosed in Dixon (Liquidator), in the matter of Victoria Project Pty Ltd…
Hastie Group liquidator Craig Crosbie. Remember that profusion of Linked In posts that gushed forth before Christmas from triumphal law firms representing the successful respondents in the Hastie Group liquidators’ bank guarantee action? Well that hubristic effusion might in future be seen to have been the highpoint of their clients’ defiance after Hastie Group’s liquidator last week filed and served an appeal to that Christmas…
Hastie Group liquidator Craig Crosbie. The ongoing saga of the Hastie Group Pty Ltd continued yesterday with liquidator Craig Crosbie flagging a possible appeal as the Federal Court delivered reasons in respect of costs. In Hastie Group Limited (in liq) v Multiplex Constructions Pty Ltd (Formerly Brookfield Multiplex Constructions Pty Ltd) (No 4) [2022] FCA 1575 retiring judge John Middleton made multiple costs orders in…
Hall Chadwick WA partner Cameron Shaw. HLB Mann Judd WA principal Kim Wallman. Cameron Shaw and Richard Albarran have been ordered to pay a rival liquidator’s costs but avoided having to pay them personally after they unsuccessfully sought to have a special purpose liquidator (SPL) appointed to Perth Fashion Council WA (In Liquidation) (PFCWA). “The function of a costs order is not simply to ‘reward’…