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VA’s & DoCA’s

Court finds Rabbi wrongfully dismissed

Judgment, Litigation, VA's & DoCA's 23 June 2017

Administrators’ dismissal of Rabbi wrongful

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…

Corporates, Social/Professional, VA's & DoCA's 21 June 2017

Korda’s TEN DIRRI a gameshow script

Are Mark Korda, Jenny Nettleton and Jarrod Villani planning a game show? One with enough ratings oomph to haul the Ten Network Holdings out of its abyssal fiscal hole and propel it to the summit of profit? This was SiN’s initial inference on reading the Declaration of Independence Relevant Relationships & Indemnities (DIRRI) produced by the three KordaMentha partners, who were appointed voluntary administrators of Ten Network…

Litigation, VA's & DoCA's 14 June 2017

Bloomer imbroglio as DoCA V liquidation fight ensues

It looks like we have an imbroglio of Brobdingnagian dimensions in the matter of Bloomer Constructions, with a major creditor seeking to derail a deed of company arrangement (DoCA) being proposed by the failed building firm’s parent, the ASX-listed but suspended from quotation Onterran. The insolvency practitioners dealing with said imbroglio are Jirsch Sutherland’s Sule Arnautovic and Trent Devine who as Bloomer’s voluntary administrators (VAs) are recommending creditors…

Trust assets question determined in IP's favour

Fees, Judgment, Liquidators, Receivership, VA's & DoCA's 14 June 2017

Cor Cordis pair score big on trust assets

The Federal Court has a delivered a wide ranging judgment on the disposal of trust assets by liquidators and receiver/managers that will have the Department of Employment’s FEG recovery unit abuzz as it prepares its appeal to the decision of Amerind Pty Ltd (receivers and managers apptd) (in liq) [2017] VSC 127 (23 March 2017). In Kite v Mooney, in the matter of Mooney’s Contractors Pty…

Surplus scooped by Pluton liquidators

Fees, Judgment, Liquidations, Liquidators, Receivership, VA's & DoCA's 2 June 2017

Pluton liquidators win fight for DoCA surplus

PwC’s Sam Marsden and Derrick Vickers look to have wangled a result from the West Australian Supreme Court in their fight with receivers over a deed fund surplus on the Pluton Resources job. In November last year the pair – in their capacity as Pluton’s liquidators – applied for orders relating to the question of Pluton’s entitlement to $835,021.94, left in a deed fund following…

Applying the proportionality in pay principle to the quesiotn of saving a power station is vexed.

Fees, Judgment, VA's & DoCA's 5 May 2017

Proportionality in pay principle ignored again

SiN’s sometimes chastised for focussing only on bad news, though we all know that except in the most extraordinary of circumstances – the second coming perhaps – a good news event is no news. Unless it’s an event that overturns bad news. The issue of insolvency practitioner pay has in recent times been a topic that’s seen a major good news event – liquidator Cliff…

No monkeying around: liquidator summons administrators.

VA's & DoCA's 28 April 2017

Liquidator calls in administrators over tax debt

Is it simply embarrassing for a company director who’s an accountant, registered tax agent, a Fellow of INSOL and a registered liquidator to have to call in administrators, or might the experience also imbue the practitioner with an enhanced sense of the plight of his clients? Only those who know North Queensland insolvency practitioner Justin Cadman well could have a stab at answering but SiN can…

Wengel and Whitton's DoCA endorsement overturned

Judgment, VA's & DoCA's 12 April 2017

Wengel and Whitton whacked by Black

William Buck’s Sean Wengel and Robert Whitton have come in for a gentle roasting from Justice Ashley Black, who’s quashed their recommendation that creditors of Hayes Steel Framing Systems (HSFS) accept a deed of company arrangement (DoCA) offering one cent in the dollar. The William Buck pair – who are the voluntary administrators (VAs) of HSFS and several other companies operated by director John Pacione – made the recommendation…

ANZ bank security for costs claim trimmed by court.

Judgment, Litigation, VA's & DoCA's 5 April 2017

Security for costs favours IP over ANZ, barely

Adelaide insolvency practitioner Andre Strazdins has had the barest of wins in his ongoing battle to recover $724,000 in fees and expenses from the ANZ Bank incurred whilst voluntary administrator (VA) of Darwin nightclub operator, DNPW Pty Ltd. Last week Justice Martin Hinton of the Supreme Court of South Australia ordered that Strazdins deposit $270,000 with the court as security for costs ahead of an anticipated 15-day…

From deed administrator to liquidator: a tough transition?

Liquidations, Liquidators, Litigation, VA's & DoCA's 22 March 2017

Deed administrator to liquidator – a transition

When a deed administrator has no more hair to tear then he or she must assess the options – assuming there are any – and act. In the case of still hirsute Helm Advisory principal Stephen Hathway, that has meant embarking on an arduous path through the courts in search of an order that will, if obtained, see his role as administrator of the Plaza West…