Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. I&R advisory partner David Ingram. A certain liquidator might be indulging a few spoonfuls of the guilty relish Germans call schadenfreude, if as iNO imagines, he has learned that the liquidator pursuing our delighter in the discomfort of others is in turn being sued by his former practice partners. To understand this tale however we must go back to 2020, approximately…
Hall Chadwick partner Blair Pleash. Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. Some of Hall Chadwick’s finest have encountered potholes recently in their regular transit through insolvency’s rougher reaches. iNO’s readers may recall our reports of two separate appointments from which Hall Chadwick partners were separated from the fee teat by court orders, wielded machete-like by judges unconvinced by evidence served up to justify the administrators’ installation. In…
PKF’s Brad Tonks. PKF partner Mark Roufeil. Marital enmity and alleged share register shenanigans have led to the appointment of PKF’s Mark Roufeil and Brad Tonks as provisional liquidators (ProvLiqs) to companies linked to the alleged buyer of a Sydney Harbour-front reportedly valued at $95 million. The PKF pair were appointed by the courts in late December to various companies linked to businessman “John” Changjin…
Robson Cotter principal Roland Robson. A Queensland trustee in bankruptcy who landed a large and complex estate in early 2021 is now fighting to retain the appointment after one unsecured creditor lost patience and commenced proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia seeking orders that the trustee be removed. Whether the creditor’s impatience is justified however is something the court will have to decide. The…
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…
Dye & Co’s Hamish MacKinnon. Dye & Co’s Nicholas Giasoumi. Still in Victoria and the eminences at East Hawthorn insolvency outfit Dye & Co are finding it heavy going investigating the affairs of Allibi Pty Ltd, despite their status as liquidators appointed by the Supreme Court of Victoria. Some books and records have not been produced, only one independent creditor has been identified to date…
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…
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…