Litigation Funding

Resistance became acceptance after breakfast

Chifley Advisory’s Gavin Moss Sydney liquidator Gavin Moss would’ve donned his best asbestos before fronting the NSW Supreme court yesterday, well aware he might be exposed to incendiary cross examination in respect of an application to remove him as liquidator of Fogo Brazilia Franchise Holdings Pty Ltd (FBFH). The ditch-and-replace initiative is being brought by Rebel Sports co-founder Ian Dresner of Fogo Brazilia Holdings Pty Ltd…


FOGO liquidator resisting conflict conniptions

Chifley Advisory’s Gavin Moss Further details of the bid to remove Gavin Moss as liquidator of Fogo Brazilia Franchise Holdings Pty Ltd (FBFH) emerged this week when a court ruled on an application to have a subpoena seeking details of communications between Moss, his funder and his funder’s lawyer set aside. The subpoena was issued to Stewart Levitt of Levitt Robinson Solicitors on February 24,…


Ex-VA back as liquidator after incumbent ousted

DW Advisory’s Paul Weston. Worrells partner Simon Cathro. Paul Weston has been appointed liquidator of South Pelagic Holdings Pty Ltd at a meeting convened at the behest of creditors seeking to punt Worrells’ Simon Cathro, whom a court had in February appointed to replace the company’s then administrator, Weston. Independence breach you shrill? No. Not a bit of it. At least not according to Weston…


Court refuses trust asset indemnity pre-examination

No trust asset indemnity ex ante – Hogan Sprowles’ Partner Chris Sprowles. Hogan Sprowles‘ Chris Sprowles‘ must have had the confidence meter on full recently when he sought priority over contested trust assets to ensure he was indemnified for undertaking a public examination, to be conducted after he obtained the indemnity. As is revealed in Structum Pty Ltd v CWCN Pty Ltd [2020] NSWSC 1314…


Fly365 “flush with cash” before liquidator appointed

Aston Chace’s Ian Niccol. Aston Chace’s Vincent Pirina. A court has heard that the coffers of failed online travel agency Fly365 were “flush with cash” only days before the company was placed into liquidation, plunging the travel plans of thousands into chaos and leaving creditors chasing up to $30 million in debts. The revelations emerged during an ex-parte application in the Federal Court yesterday brought…


Lit funder Vannin to cough up security in cash

Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. Hall Chadwick’s Blair Pleash. We’re sure Vannin Capital is a successful player in the oft-times lucrative litigation funding space but two insolvency-based bets it’s made in Queensland have proved troublesome. Little mystery can attach to why bankrolling the general purpose liquidators (GPLs) of Queensland Nickel in litigation involving the company’s former director Clive Palmer hasn’t gone to plan. Palmer could probably…


Hughes bruised as Westgem judge rejects voidables

Pitcher Partners’ Bryan Hughes. Pitcher Partners’ Perth office nabob Bryan Hughes has come in for some stick in a judgment of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, which has rejected Hughes’ multiple claims of voidable transactions in respect of stricken developer Westgem. In what may turn out to be a costly decision for Hughes’ litigation funder IMF, Justice Paul Tottle said yesterday that the basis…


Grant Thornton duo prepare to tread perilous path

Grant Thornton’s Matt Byrnes. Grant Thornton’s Phil Campbell-Wilson. Having replaced Jirsch Sutherland’s Malcolm Howell as liquidators of AXF Group, Grant Thornton duo Matt Byrnes and Phil Campbell-Wilson now have the job of negotiating AXF Group’s related party labyrinth, and that’s without considering the attitude of Howell’s out-of-pocket backers, Claims Funding Australia (CFA). According to Howell’s last report to creditors dated August 4, the Maurice Blackburn-backed…


Ex-parte application incensed AXF creditors

Last week iNO reported on the recent ousting of Jirsch Sutherland partner Malcolm Howell as liquidator of AXF Group. New information subsequently to hand sheds further light on how this potentially lucrative appointment was lost, and how Howell’s replacements, Matt Byrnes and Phil Campbell-Wilson of Grant Thornton, might avoid the same fate. In a letter to Howell’s lawyers, Landers & Rogers, dated May 11, the…


Cullen Australia liquidator won’t be run out of town

Cullen Group Australia Liquidator Michael Caspaney. Menzies Advisory’s Michael Caspaney must have days when he wonders if providing that consent to act as replacement liquidator on Cullen Group Australia Pty Ltd (CGA) almost four years go was a good idea, and iNO suspects that another such day approaches.  Caspaney has been at odds with members of CGA’s Committee of Inspection (COI) and the general pool…