Case and statute law
Cleaning up after failed oil and mining operations – new New Zealand laws, and other ideas
The cost of environmental clean-up of mining and other resource projects where the company has gone into liquidation is a ...
The contributions of bankruptcy trustees to AFSA’s regulation of criminal conduct
Bankruptcy trustees, and liquidators, and creditors in insolvencies, contribute much to the government, in effect for free. In a recent ...
Assigning bankruptcy claims to a former trustee
A 5 day bankruptcy hearing was cancelled in March 2021, in relation to matters occurring in 2012, being challenged in ...
Winding up Forum Finance
In ordering that liquidators be appointed to Forum Finance Pty Ltd on 9 July 2021, the Federal Court explained the ...
Insolvency practitioner charge-out rates – the cost of carrying the State
In making a winding up order against Forum Finance,[1] Justice Michael Lee made this comment about the hourly fees of ...
Employees’ redundancy rights on the insolvency of their employer
There are now a number of decisions from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviewing decisions of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee where ...
Cross-border insolvency protection of a ship on its way to Australia
An Italian shipping company – Michele Bottiglieri Armatore SpA – which is subject to Italian restructuring protection, a concordato preventivo ...
The insolvency rule in ex parte James – another in a series of cases ‘dancing on pinheads’
A trustee in bankruptcy in England rejected a £5.7m proof of debt lodged by the revenue authority [HMRC][1] on what ...
Regulatory penalties
Sanctions imposed by courts for breaches of competition or regulatory laws have to tread a line between being so severe ...
Australian High Court – special leave sought in bankruptcy Ponzi case – 139ZQ
An application for special leave to appeal to the High Court[1] has been made in a bankruptcy matter involving a ...
Trustee “entirely blameless” in his dealings with a mentally infirm bankrupt
While there is now greater training available in dealing with those suffering mental illness for professionals working in debt counselling ...
Why do we have preference recoveries in insolvency?
In finding that the ‘peak indebtedness rule’ did not in fact exist, the Full Federal Court[1] in Badenoch v Bryant ...
Insolvent trading convictions set aside on mental health grounds
Following convictions and imprisonment for insolvent trading arising from the 2009 collapse of Kleenmaid, its founder, Andrew Young, has succeeded ...
Licensing of insolvency practitioners – decision making principles from New Zealand [updated post 13 June 2021]
Mr Damien Grant, the New Zealand insolvency practitioner who successfully challenged RITANZ’s decision to deny him the right to practice ...
Employees’ loss of FEG redundancy payments through their misguided “acts of decency and loyalty” to assist
The AAT has described its decision confirming a lack of government assistance under fair entitlements guarantee (FEG) for “two dedicated, ...
Costs against ASIC in its [“illegal phoenix activity”] claim against a liquidator
ASIC has been unsuccessful in resisting a costs order against it in its “illegal phoenix activity” proceedings against a liquidator ...
Peak indebtedness and other insolvency law views from New Zealand
The decision of the Full Federal Court in Badenoch Integrated Logging v Bryant[1] agreeing with New Zealand’s view about the ...
World Bank insolvency principles – how does Australia compare?
The World Bank has released its updated Principles for Effective Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Regimes (the Principles), emphasising the needs of ...
Penalties and bankruptcy
A person in breach of consumer protection laws concerning the hire of 4 wheel drive vehicles has been ordered to ...
Litigation representatives and bankruptcy
A daughter’s evidence that her mother’s litigation and bankruptcy proceedings had become her mother’s “entire life” with her house “full ...
Virgin Airlines – special leave to appeal granted by the Australian High Court on a matter of the interpretation of the Cape Town Convention
Further to my report of 4 April 2021 below, the High Court of Australia has granted special leave to appeal ...
Neither a borrower nor a lender be – at least to a friend or a relative …
A guarantee given by a mother to a friend of her son for the son’s business debts ended up in ...
Appeals from sequestration orders made by registrars – continued
An appeal from a sequestration order made by a registrar in 2016 is being heard, in 2021. In bankruptcy litigation ...
Review of the English Insolvency Rules 2016
The 2016 insolvency rules of England and Wales are being reviewed, in accord with a statutory requirement to do so ...
