Thanks are owed to SPB summer associate Gabby Martin for her contributions to this article.

Last month, a Florida federal jury found in favor of a credit reporting agency (“CRA”) in a trial centering on whether the CRA took “reasonable” steps to assure the accuracy of a consumer’s credit report after a consumer dispute. The result is a valuable glimpse into how juries view the burdens of the statutory obligations placed on reporting agencies by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”).

In brief

The courts were busy in the second half of 2021 with developments in the space where insolvency law and environmental law overlap.

In Victoria, the Court of Appeal has affirmed the potential for a liquidator to be personally liable, and for there to be a prospective ground to block the disclaimer of contaminated land, where the liquidator has the benefit of a third-party indemnity for environmental exposures.¹

In brief

Australia's borders may be closed, but from the start of the pandemic, Australian courts have continued to grapple with insolvency issues from beyond our shores. Recent cases have expanded the recognition of international insolvency processes in Australia, whilst also highlighting that Australia's own insolvency regimes have application internationally.

Key takeaways

In brief

With the courts about to consider a significant and long standing controversy in the law of unfair preferences, suppliers to financially distressed companies, and liquidators, should be aware that there have been recent significant shifts in the law about getting paid in hard times.

In a recent litigation and appeal involving claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the defendant, in a win for CRAs named in similar litigation. Leoni v. Experian Info. Solutions, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 17687 (9th Cir. June 14. 2021). Read on for details about the case and its implications.

In brief

In brief

Creditors commonly find that their applications to wind up a company are suddenly deferred at the last minute by the appointment of a voluntary administrator.  Now, in the early days of the small business restructuring (Part 5.3B) process, the courts are already grappling with those circumstances in the context of that new regime. At the time of writing1, only four restructuring appointments under Part 5.3B have been notified to ASIC. Two of them have been the subject of court proceedings.

The resulting decisions reveal:

In brief

The new small business insolvency reforms enacted by the Corporations Amendment (Corporate Insolvency Reforms) Act 2020 (Cth) (Corporations Amendment Act) - which inserts a new Part 5.3B into the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act) - are due to come into effect on 1 January 2021.

In brief

The new small business insolvency reforms enacted by the Corporations Amendment (Corporate Insolvency Reforms) Act 2020 (Corporations Amendment Act) - which inserts a new Part 5.3B into the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act) - are due to come into effect on 1 January 2021.

In brief

The Federal Court has ordered that an insolvency professional be appointed to act as a referee and to decide questions of insolvency in relation to a series of alleged unfair preferences, rather than have the judge undertake that task.

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