The recent decision of the Court of Appeal of Western Australia, Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd v Forge Group Power Pty Ltd (in Liquidation) (Receivers and Managers Appointed) [2018] WASCA 163 provides much needed clarity around the law of set-off. The decision will no doubt help creditors sleep well at night, knowing that when contracting with counterparties that later become insolvent they will not lose their set-off rights for a lack of mutuality where the counterparty has granted security over its assets.
This week’s TGIF is the second of a two-part series considering Commonwealth v Byrnes [2018] VSCA 41, the Victorian Court of Appeal’s decision on appeal from last year’s Re Amerind decision about the insolvency of corporate trustees.
This week’s TGIF looks at a recent decision of the Victorian Supreme Court, where a winding up application was adjourned to allow the debtor company to pursue restructuring under the recently introduced small business restructuring reforms.
Key takeaways
This week’s TGIF considers the Coronavirus Economic Response Package Omnibus Act 2020, which was passed in response to the economic impact of the coronavirus. Amongst other things, the Act makes significant changes to creditor’s statutory demands and insolvent trading laws.
The Act
This week’s TGIF considers the Federal Court’s decision of In the matter of Boka Beverages Pty Ltd (In Liquidation) [2019] FCA 1184, regarding an application for the appointment of special purpose liquidators.
What happened?
This week’s TGIF considers Re GGA Lifestyle Pty Ltd (Administrators Appointed); Ex Parte Woodhouse [2019] WASC 167, where the Supreme Court of Western Australia clarified that a voluntary administrator of a company in administration is able to claim costs of care, preservation and realisation of partnership assets of the company in administration through an equitable lien in the same way liquidators can.
What happened?
This week’s TGIF considers the decision in Mujkic Family Company Pty Ltd v Clarke & Gee Pty Ltd [2018] TASFC 4, which concerns a rather novel issue – whether a solicitor acting for a shareholder might also owe a duty of care to the company in liquidation.
What happened?
In 2015, the Supreme Court of Queensland ordered that the corporate trustee of a family trust be wound up.
In September 2017, the Commonwealth Parliament passed the Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Enterprise Incentives No. 2) Act 2017 (Cth) to amend and reform the insolvency and external administration provisions of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
One of the main changes implemented by these reforms was the introduction of a ‘safe harbour’ protection for company directors.
Unlike the GFC, which was essentially a liquidity crisis, Australia is likely to face a gradual increase in business insolvencies, rather than the feared ‘insolvency cliff’, as the Federal Government’s COVID-19 stimulus measures are wound down at the end of March.
This week’s TGIF considers a recent application to the Federal Court by liquidators of the WDS Group for a pooling order.
What happened?
This case concerned the WDS Group of companies.
WDS Limited (WDS) was a publicly listed company on the ASX with 11 wholly owned subsidiaries (together, the WDS Group).