Hot Topics

Receivers

Administrators, Creditors, Directors, Judgment, Lawyers, Receivers, VA's & DoCA's 17 May 2023

Extension refused over 11th hour sins of omission

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…

Judgment, Liquidations, Liquidators, Litigation, Receivers, Social/Professional, VA's & DoCA's 15 March 2023

Liquidators liable if plaintiff’s impecunious

KordaMentha’s Richard Tucker. Worrells’ Christopher Darin. No matter what misgivings liquidators of a company might have about the conduct of separate liquidators appointed to a related entity, they must always resist the temptation to apply to wind up that related entity if it’s subject to a deed of company arrangement (DoCA). That’s the message Supreme Court of West Australia Master Craig Sanderson delivered last week…

Bankruptcy, Creditors, Lawyers, Liquidators, Litigation, Litigation Funding, Receivers 1 March 2023

Queensland trustee facing removal bid

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…

ATO, Creditors, Directors, DIRRIs, indemnity, Receivers, Referrers, Social/Professional, VA's & DoCA's 21 December 2022

Jirsch punted as Westpac declares preference

Chris Baskerville of Jirsch Sutherland. Insolvency practitioners need to be a thick-skinned and philosophical lot. Resentful creditors, regulators inclined to scape goat and duplicitous directors make for a generally adversarial stakeholder group that’s all too eager to pillory appointees at the merest whiff of an oversight. It’s no profession for those who need to be loved and when a practitioner cops a kicking they need…

Corporates, Creditors, Lawyers, Receivers 9 December 2022

Queensland receiver fighting bid for judicial inquiry

Marcus Watters of Hall Chadwick. Hall Chadwick partner Marcus Watters is seeking to fend off an application for a judicial inquiry into his conduct of the sale process for the Carvers Reach development in Queensland. Court documents reveal that plaintiffs CIP Group, CIP 1 Pyrmont Portfolio and Marc Clancy are seeking orders for an inquiry into various “acts and omissions” they allege were perpetrated by…

Creditors, Directors, Liquidators, Receivers, SPL, Trustees 7 December 2022

Pub proceeds in limbo as SPL appointment looms

Wexted Advisors founder and principal Joe Hayes. Wexted Advisors partner Andrew McCabe. Reaping almost $130 million from the sale of public houses looks like an exceptional result for a pair of Sydney receivers but a decision to affirm a director’s unit trust holding could see distribution of the profits disrupted by a Special Purpose Liquidator (SPL). Since December 2021 when they were appointed receiver managers…

Corporates, Directors, Fees, Liquidations, Liquidators, Receivers 2 December 2022

Fee estimates: who needs ’em?

Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. Hall Chadwick partner Kathleen Vouris. Reading the latest report to creditors from the liquidators of Orbis Commodities Pty Ltd, iNO is yet again moved to ponder on the wisdom of forcing appointment takers to provide a life-of-job fee estimate in their initial notice to creditors. When the estimate is between $50,000 and $100,000 and 18 months later the amount being sought…

indemnity, Liquidators, Litigation, Receivers, Trustees, VA's & DoCA's 30 November 2022

Pursuing trust assets without indemnity certainty

Hall Chadwick partner John Vouris. Hall Chadwick partner Kathleen Vouris. The ephemeral nature of a corporate trustee’s right of indemnity continues to bedevil those charged with the winding up of a trustee company’s affairs. Trust deeds allow for the appointment of new trustees whenever an incumbent is insolvent or anticipated to shortly become so. Those wielding the power to appoint a replacement rarely decline to…

Creditors, Directors, Liquidations, Liquidators, Litigation, Receivers, Social/Professional, VA's & DoCA's 23 November 2022

Deed administrators block pub group dividend

Wexted Advisors partner Andrew McCabe. Wexted Advisors founder and principal Joe Hayes. Lavishing creditors with a fat dividend on the eve of the festive season is no doubt an aspiration close to the heart of every insolvency practitioner, so one can imagine the distinctly unChristmas-like sentiments that must have echoed through the Pitt Street offices of Wexted Advisors early Monday morning. Unwelcome correspondence had arrived…

ATO, Judgment, Liquidations, Liquidators, Litigation, Receivers, Receivership 18 November 2022

McGrathNicol pair refused receivership trust bid

McGrathNicol’s Rob Kirman. McGrathNicol’s Jamie Harris. While the law around how insolvency practitioners deal with trust assets has evolved exponentially in recent years, circumstances peculiar to a particular appointment can still confound appointees’ aims when it comes to asset pursuit, as Jamie Harris and Rob Kirman know very well. “Without determining the question, I would make the point that if an application to be appointed…