Loather of Legislative Lacunae Henry Carr. Lowe Lippmann partner Gideon Rathner. Henry Carr, the ebullient litigator who’s been bulling about the china shop of circulating asset entitlements since 2019 may have temporarily vacated his position within the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) but as a hearing in the Federal Court yesterday demonstrates, his loathing of legislative lacunae lingers. As a creditor in the…
FEG Active Creditor Recovery Unit Tsar Henry Carr. The receivers of the Mosaic Brands Limited Group (MBL) now know the answer to the question of which company in the Group was the true employer of MBLs almost 3,000 sacked employees, and the answer will neither surprise nor delight the receivers’ appointor. ” …. in the language of the case law, there was no intelligible business…
Worrells’ James Robba. Worrells’ Jason Bettles. Worrells’ Jason Bettles and James Robba won big time yesterday, with a court declaring an assault brought against them by FEG should fail utterly and that FEG should bear their costs of the attritional litigation, which represented another effort by the Commonwealth to make Section 561 its own. “The priority unsecured creditor has no right to be paid in…
BDO partner Jeff Marsden. The liquidators of Ally Fashion Pty Ltd have conjured a deal that will see the winding up of the company stayed and 25 cents in the dollar made available for unsecureds, assuming an improved deed of company arrangement (DoCA) proposal garners sufficient support at a meeting to be convened. “It seems to me that the Court would generally exercise caution in…
SV Partners’ Matthew Hudson. SV Partners’ Matt Hudson recently saw first hand how state environment laws impose themselves on external administrations after he was appointed to a business that dealt in hazardous chemicals until it blew up its rented premises. The details are in contained in Hudson, in the matter of ACB Group Pty Ltd (in liq) [2025] FCA 90 which provides good guidance for…
RSM’s Mitchell Herrett. RSM Partner Jonathan Colbran. A decision in the Supreme Court of Queensland has done nothing to clear the fog around the question of external administrators’ entitlements to fees and costs from trusts established pursuant to Queensland’s Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (BIF Act). “It is not appropriate for the Court, in the context of making directions, to make directions…
KordaMentha Singapore partner Cameron Duncan. One bad interview before a disciplinary committee is all it takes to lose one’s registration as a liquidator. Fortunately, one good performance before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) is all it takes to have an order cancelling one’s registration overturned. “the committee’s adverse decision appeared to be premised almost entirely on what it took to be Mr Duncan’s sub-optimal performance…
SV Partners’ Anne Meagher. SV Partners’ Jason Cronan. A Federal Court judge who pulled out all the stops after hearing details about a highly distressed bankrupt may have put a rocket up the law reform process. In the matter of Meagher and Cronan (Trustee), in the matter of Laguzza (Bankrupt) v Laguzza [2024] FCA 314 Justice John Logan declared that he would direct the court…
de Jonge Read founder and executive director Henry ‘Hank’ de Jonge. de Jonge Read director Ashley Shield. Australia’s most prominent pre-insolvency advisor ran into trouble with the tax office (ATO) last year and in 2024 trouble’s found him again. Last week in the Federal Court the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation (DCoT) filed proceedings seeking the winding up of two companies part-controlled by Hank De Jonge,…
PKF’s Brad Tonks. There must have been much gleeful rubbing of hands yesterday after the NSW Supreme Court of Appeal exorcised the FEG demon in respect of whether a priority creditor’s claim to circulating assets ranks ahead of a liquidator’s claim for remuneration. “The central question before the primary judge and on appeal was whether s 561 of the Act applies and, if so, whether…