Litigation Funding

Liquidator repels conflict and removal bid

Liquidator Gavin Moss. Photo: iNO Images A recent decision out of the NSW Supreme Court shows how liquidators using the same lawyer who acts for creditors or the liquidator’s funder can quell conflict concerns. In this case Chifley Advisory principal Gavin Moss had to defend himself from allegations of multiple conflict-related breaches of duty by Ian Dresner, the director of churrasco operator Fogo Brazilia Holdings…


SPL bid founders as judge queries “onerous” fee

WLP Restructuring’s Glenn Livingstone. Hall Chadwick partner Sule Arnautovic. Coming before a judge with an incompletely charted special purpose liquidator (SPL) application must be considered to be a fraught exercise. But when the aspiring SPL’s proposed funder also demands an ogre-sized serving of any proceeds of litigation well, why bother incurring the filing fee? In this case those applicants – Philip King’s Rockgold Holdings and…


Liquidator’s underestimate might irk ATO

Aston Chace Group partner Ian Niccol. When you pitch a fee estimate of $50,000 for a liquidation and a few years later ask a judge to approve more than three times more you can be sure questions will be asked about such an underestimate. For the NSW Supreme Court’s chief judge in equity David Hammerschlag, several questions occurred when the remuneration application in the matter…


Duff & Phelps duo cede receiver investigations to SPLs

Duff & Phelps’ Marcus Ayres. Duff & Phelps’ Steve Parbery. As iNO reported last week, Duff & Phelps duo Marcus Ayres and Steve Parbery have had their hands full winding up Queensland coal mine operator ICRA Rolleston Pty Ltd (ICRA). ICRA’s sole director – John Phillip Canavan – suspects the pair of having a conflict with ICRA’ former joint venture partner and his nemesis Rolleston…


Forge settlement fodder for ‘Improving Outcomes’ Bill

Banton Group CEO Amanda Banton. KPMG’s Martin Jones. If the Federal Government wanted a recent example of why the litigation funding industry should submit to the regulatory cosh as is envisaged in the Government’s Corporations Amendment (Improving Outcomes for Litigation Funding Participants) Bill 2021 then it might like to look at the latest update for creditors of the Forge Pooled Group (FPG). “The fact that…


Govt-funded liquidator one step closer to removal

Liquidator Moira Carter. Federal Court judge Scott Goodman has rejected arguments seeking to block an amendment to an originating process that calls for the removal of the liquidator of Australian Vocational Learning Institute Pty Ltd (AVLI). As told in LFI Ventures Pty Ltd v Carter, in the matter of Australian Vocational Learning Institute Pty Ltd (in liq) [2021] FCA 1555, the arguments against inclusion of…


Failed appeal follows imprudent refusal

Hall Chadwick partner Blair Pleash. When you’re being funded to pursue litigation, it’s not difficult to double down and appeal after a stinging loss. For Hall Chadwick partner Blair Pleash, trying to cajole a ceasefire from the bowels of defeat has meant being bitten twice in a month after the Federal Court of Appeal last week dismissed his bid to overturn a ruling rejecting his…


Liquidator facing removal over funder’s proof of debt

Liquidator Moira Carter. When your funder is the major creditor by an insurmountable majority and wants you to use its preferred lawfirm, well, what’re you going to do? Particularly when your funder is that model of decorum in litigation, the Commonwealth. For one North Queensland liquidator, this scenario has armed enemies who are not only seeking to remove her but also want the Commonwealth’s proof…


Litigation funder burned by indemnity costs

BRI Ferrier’s Peter Krejci. FerrierSilvia’s Brian Silvia. If there was anyone happier with the outcome detailed in Jin Lian Group Pty Ltd (in liq) v ACapital Finance Pty Ltd (No 2) [2021] NSWSC 1202 than property investor Owen Chen then it was probably BRI Ferrier partner Peter Krejci. “What is certain is that the proceedings would have come to an end on 14 August 2020…


Plenty at stake as referee and liquidators differ

Grant Thornton’s Said Jahani. McGrathNicol partner and forensic accounting guru Robyn McKern. The litigation being pursued by Delta Coal Mining Pty Ltd (Delta) liquidators Said Jahani and John McInerney is set to test the forensic mettle of McGrathNicol partner and referee in demand Robyn McKern. The Grant Thornton pair have commenced proceedings for unfair preferences and for insolvent trading with combined claims totalling $25 million….