In October, we issued an Insolvency Newsflash with respect to the decision in Re: Joe & Joe Developments Pty Ltd (subject to a Deed of Company Arrangement) [2014] NSWSC 1444. On 1 December 2014, a further judgement was handed down by the Supreme Court of New South Wales (Re: Joe & Joe Developments Pty Ltd (subject to a Deed of Company Arrangement) [2014] NSWSC 1703), which considered additional matters and included orders for costs.
The decision In the matter of CGH Engineering Pty Ltd [2014] NSWSC 1132 handed down by Justice Brereton early in 2014 required the Court to answer an interesting and novel question - is the statutory derivative action available during a voluntary administration?
The statutory derivative action
This article focuses on the judgments delivered in June and October 2014 by the Guernsey Court of Appeal in the long-running Tchenguiz litigation [Investec Trust (Guernsey) Limited and Another v Glenalla Properties Limited and Others]. The litigation concerned the liabilities of a trustee to creditors in circumstances where the creditor claims far outweighed the value of the trust fund.
The Federal Court of Australia recently considered the Court’s discretionary power to provide assistance to a foreign trustee (Hong Kong) in bankruptcy, by way of appointing a receiver over divisible property located in Australia in the case of Lees v O’Dea (No 2) [2014] FCA 1082. It also continued the ongoing focus on practitioner’s remuneration, an issue which has attracted some attention in various state courts.
Background
An often complicated and at times mysterious issue that arises for practitioners and their lawyers in the insolvency space is how one should approach trusts and trust assets. This year, there have been at least three Supreme Court of New South Wales decisions (all, incidentally, delivered by Justice Brereton) that may provide some much needed judicial guidance on the matter.
A consultation process to update the insolvency laws and practices in Guernsey has been launched by a government department in the island with businesses, industry bodies, lawyers and insolvency practitioners being invited to respond to the process before 31 December 2014.
David Jones a restructuring and insolvency expert from Carey Olsen was invited to participate as part of the Commerce and Employment Department’s working party that reviewed the laws which raise a number of key areas for change.
Re: Joe & Joe Developments Pty Ltd (subject to a Deed of Company Arrangement) [2014] NSWSC 1444
Recently, Courts have increased focus on the appropriateness of expenditure (including legal fees) incurred by insolvency practitioners and the steps they should undertake to determine if the costs and expenses are reasonable. Warren Jiear, Partner and Tim Logan, Associate look at a case handed down on 22 October 2014 that considered these issues and the implications for practitioners.
Senior Associate, Sarah Drinkwater, Associate, Tim Logan and Paralegal, Erin Donald discuss the recent case of AAA Financial Intelligence Ltd (in liquidation) ACN 093 616 445 [2014] NSWSC 1004.
The facts
The applicants were the Liquidators of AAA Financial Intelligence Ltd (in liquidation) (the Company).
In Akers (as a joint foreign representative of Saad Investments Company Ltd) (in official liquidation) (a company registered in the Cayman Islands) v DCT [2014]FCAFC 57 the Federal Court of Australia recently upheld an earlier landmarkdecision concerning the proper construction and interpretation of the Model Lawon Cross Border Insolvency on the United Nations Commission on InternationalTrade Law, made part of Aust
The approach of the courts to public examinations conducted by liquidators has in recent times arguably tended towards granting increasing liberty to liquidators in the scope of their examinations.