Lowe Lippmann partner Gideon Rathner If a full bench of the Federal Court of Appeal has ruled that creditors were misled, it’s a fair bet that when the costs of the resultant litigation come to be determined, indemnities will be endangered. In circumstances were that same full bench also found that the architects of the creditors’ nescience were less than forthcoming in submissions to the…
Hamilton Murphy partner Stephen Dixon. Steve Dixon must be considering his options after a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria refused the Hamilton Murphy partner’s application for orders declaring a mortgage invalid. In Dixon (as trustee of the bankrupt estate of Toufic Sassine) v Lennon & Anor [2023] VSC 426 Associate Justice Matthew Barrett concluded – having spent eight months deliberating – that he…
Lowe Lippmann partner Gideon Rathner. It had to take the long road but a persistent creditor has been vindicated in its bid to have a deed of company arrangement (DoCA) terminated after the Federal Court of Appeal last week found that the deed had been executed on the basis of materially misleading information. The impugned information was contained in a Section 530A Report provided to…
Mackay Goodwin principal Domenic Calabretta. Mackay Goodwin director Edwin Narayan. Two Sydney practitioners who tried to stall a winding up so they could put a DoCA proposal to creditors have lost the application and the gig after a court refused to adjourn the hearing and sided with the petitioning creditor’s preferred nominee as liquidator. The bid for an adjournment in the matter of The Deputy…
Hall Chadwick’s Richard Lawrence. Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. The latest chapter in the fight by Richard Albarran and Richard Lawrence to be paid outstanding remuneration for their time as liquidators of start-up accelerator Tauro Capital (Tauro) could be cut short if Tauro creditors like the latest solution being proposed. Today it’s expected that the current liquidators of Tauro will distribute a report that includes a…
BDO partner Shaun McKinnon. Thomson Geer partner Scott Guthrie. Getting a straight answer about DoCA funding can be tougher than shelling an uncooked prawn, as lawyer Scott Guthrie can attest. When the Thomson Geer partner appeared at the second meeting of creditors of stalled aquaculture play Project Sea Dragon Pty Ltd (PSDPL) Guthrie had one overriding concern – if the company was returned to the…
O’Brien Palmer’s Daniel Frisken. McGrathNicol Partner Kathy Sozou. In the matter of Xpress Transport Solutions Pty Ltd (Receivers and Managers Appointed) (Administrator Appointed), Federal Court judge Elizabeth Cheeseman has provided a handy guide for external administrators on how not to proceed with an application for an extension of the convening period. O’Brien Palmer partner Daniel Frisken also deserves special mention. “The approach taken by the…
McGrathNicol partner Keith Crawford. McGrathNicol partner Matthew Caddy. Proceedings in the Federal Court yesterday aptly demonstrated the dangers insolvency practitioners face when accepting appointments as administrators in the middle of intractable shareholder disputes. At a hearing before Federal Court judge Tim McEvoy in Melbourne, counsel for the administrators of Agrifunder Holdings Pty Ltd appeared seeking approval for Agrifunder to enter into a deed of refinance…
O’Brien Palmer’s Liam Bailey. Hall Chadwick’s John Shanahan. When you’re on a bad thing abort is the message that one Sydney trustee didn’t get soon enough to prevent the unnecessary enrichment of lawyers. The trustee, after refusing to accede to the wishes of the majority debt holder by resigning, marshalled his defences when the dominant creditor commenced proceedings to have him removed. As valid as…
Hartwell Funds’ Aaron McDonald. Hartwell Funds’ co-owner John Poynton. Having recently broken the news that liquidator Neil Cussen was departing the Sussex Street Sydney offices of Cor Cordis ahead of a planned foray into litigation funding, iNO this week received a call from West Australian legal entrepreneur Aaron McDonald, eager to let us know that he too was active in the dispute financing arena. “The…