In Official Assignee in Bankruptcy of the Property of Cooksley, in the matter of Cooksley v Cooksley, the Federal Court of Australia was asked to consider a letter of request from the New Zealand High Court for assistance under the Bankruptcy Act 1996 (Cth) and the Foreign Insolvency Act 2008 (Cth). By the letter of request from the High Court, the New Zealand Official Assignee sought assistance to enforce income contributions by a New Zealand bankrupt resident in Australia.

In March 2013, four portable gas turbines worth about AU$50m had been leased to Forge Group Power Pty Ltd (Forge) by GE International Inc (GE) as lessor.  In February 2014 and March 2014 Forge was placed in administration and liquidation respectively.

The Western Australian Court of Appeal has recently delivered its judgment on one of the country's longest running pieces of litigation: Westpac Banking Corporation v The Bell Group (in liq) [No 3] (the Bell Appeal).  The Bell Appeal decision runs at over 1,000 pages and discusses a range of issues relating to transactions conducted immediately prior to insolvency.  Of particular significance for directors and financiers are the discussions relating to director's duties, knowing receipt and knowing assistance.

In Re Boart Longyear Ltd (No 2) the Supreme Court of New South Wales recently approved two creditor schemes of arrangement on the application of Boart Longyear Limited. The schemes were considerably amended after the Court indicated at the first hearing that it was not likely to approve the original schemes on fairness grounds. Significantly, the Court ordered the parties to attend a mediation to resolve the fairness issues – something that has not been done before in a scheme of arrangement in either Australia or the United Kingdom.

In the recent case of Queensland Mining Corporation Ltd v Butmall Pty Ltd (in liq), the Court held that the liquidators' relationship with a major creditor of the company in liquidation (Butmall) did not per se amount to a conflict of interest. 

Butmall applied to have its liquidators removed as they were the auditors of its major creditor (QMC), against whom Butmall purported to have considerable counterclaims.

In the matter of Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga in Australia (inc (administrators appointed) Phoenix Lacquers & Paints Pty Limited v Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga in Australia Inc (administrators appointed) & Ors [2012] NSWSC 214 (13 March 2012), the plaintiff, Phoenix Lacquers, sought a declaration regarding the validity of a resolution to remove and replace joint and several administrators of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga which did not succeed.  The Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga in Australia was incorporated under the Associations Incorporation Act 2009 (NSW) and

The Supreme Court of Victoria has recently considered whether trust property is subject to the priority regime provided for in section 556 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the Australian equivalent of New Zealand's Schedule 7 of the Companies Act 1993).  It also considered whether a trustee's right of indemnity is subject to the obligations of receivers under section 433 of that Act, to pay employee entitlements in priority out of assets subject to a circulating security interest.

In our September 2012 insolvency update, we reported on Re Willmott Forests Ltd [2012] VSC 29, where the Victorian Court of Appeal found that a leasehold interest in land is extinguished by a liquidator's disclaimer of the lease pursuant to section 568(1) of the Australian Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).

A liquidator of a landlord company who disclaims a lease under section 568(1) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), a section largely similar to section 269 of the Companies Act 1993 (NZ), does so with full effect, leaving the land unencumbered by the interests of tenants.

The New South Wales Court of Appeal recently handed down an important judgment relating to the composition of classes in a creditors' scheme of arrangement.  In First Pacific Advisors LLC v Boart Longyear Limited, the Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed an appeal brought by First Pacific Advisors LLC (FPA).  The appeal was against an order made under s 411 of the Corporations Act 2011 convening meetings of creditors of Boart Longyear Limited (BLL) and several associated companies, to consider and if it saw fit, agree to two schemes of arrangements (one relating to