The demolition of the liquidator’s exit plan could not have been more sweeping or complete. In 500 plus paragraphs delivered on Monday, Justice Greg Parker of the Supreme Court of South Australia dismissed every argument of Adelaide liquidator Nick Orfanos in a battle commenced a decade ago. Orfanos, accountant Michael Michaels and Willem (Bill) Ouwens, who as well as being an accountant is the Honorary Consul for the…
First it was the DIRRI. Then the supplementary DIRRI. And now it’s the report to creditors. When it comes to TEN Network Holdings, voluntary administrators KordaMentha can scarcely issue a document that isn’t analysed by TEN’s unsuccessful bidders in the hope that some perceived misstep, omission or flaw will deliver the opportunity they need to reverse the consequences of their own miscalculation. This week we’ve seen…
Here’s an unholy shemozzle for the Federal Court to exorcise. Two banks, each with multi-million dollar exposures to separate companies within the same group. Four appointees, installed at some point as either receivers or liquidators of various companies within said group. Add the main shareholder and director, who’s defending one bank’s attempts to bankrupt him. Toss in ASIC. Season with allegations that receivers took possession…
Over in the West this week, Pitcher Partners’ Bryan Hughes and Daniel Bredenkamp failed in their latest attempt to extinguish liability claims being pursued by US energy outfit Blue Sky Offshore Services. The Pitchers pair had applied to the Supreme Court of West Australia for summary judgment against Blue Sky on the basis that its claims against them were not arguable and had no realistic chance…
Over in West Australia Pitcher Partners’ Bryan Hughes and Daniel Bredenkamp have been enjoying one of the not uncommon consequences of managing a deed of company arrangement (DoCA) – defending themselves from the wrath of a dissatisfied creditor. In March the Supreme Court on West Australia ruled that the Pitchers pair shouldn’t be removed as deed administrators of Mesa Minerals Ltd after Mesa’s second largest shareholder, Mighty…
RSM’s Peter Marsden and Richard Stone have avoided having their remuneration on the Cardinal Project Services administration inducted into the cult of proportionality after one of the concept’s most ardent advocates dismissed a creditor’s application for a fee review. In his judgment of July 12, 2017 Justice Paul Brereton outlined how since their appointment – initially as voluntary administrators (VAs) in 2011 – the RSM…
A bid by Deloitte pair David Lombe and Robert Woods to transfer their stoush with solar cell installer Massive Solar (MS) from Sydney to Melbourne has failed after a judge concluded that “the interests of justice require that the proceedings continue in this Court.” Lombe and Woods were appointed liquidator to Inverter Solar (IS) by order of the Supreme Court of Victoria on July 13, 2016….
Mackay Goodwin principal Domenic Calabretta may be overseas but that is not impeding the progress of some potential grief around an alleged lack of independence working its way towards him via a hearing in the NSW Supreme Court later this year. The grief is in the form of untested allegations – which may or may not be frivolous and/or vexatious – that the fees charged…
If avoiding an acrimonious trial involving serious allegations of impropriety can be categorised as a good result then PPB Advisory’s Ian Carson and Craig Crosby have engineered such after the Supreme Court of Victoria endorsed a deed of settlement between the pair as Willmott Forests‘ liquidators and the company’s responsible entity, Primary Securities. In the recent judgment of Justice James Judd in Primary Securities Ltd v Willmott Forests…
Anthony Elkerton and Ron Dean-Willcocks have run aground in their attempts to make redundant the head of South Head & District Synagogue (Sydney) with NSW Supreme Court Justice Paul Brereton ruling that the administrators’ termination of Rabbi Benzion Milecki’s employment amounted to wrongful dismissal. In the matter of South Head & District Synagogue (Sydney) (Administrators appointed) [2017] NSWSC 823 it’s revealed that the administrators gave the Rabbi notice…