In Ramsay Health Care Australia Pty Ltd v Compton, the High Court of Australia considered the Bankruptcy Court's discretion, under s52 of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 (Cth), to go behind a judgment to satisfy itself that a debt is truly owing before making a sequestration order against a debtor.
ELT Recycling (NZ) Ltd (ELT) is a company in the business of scrap tyre collection and recycling. The shareholders of ELT had ongoing financial disputes with one of ELT's shareholders, Mr Adams, who was responsible for development of the intellectual property. Adams issued an invoice to ELT as remuneration for his services and when the other shareholders (the Zhang interests) refused to pay, Adams took steps to pass a 'resolution' to liquidate ELT and appoint Mr Imran Kamal as liquidator.
In Official Assignee v Carrim the High Court considered the concept of a "gift" in the Insolvency Act 2006.
The Official Assignee sought to cancel insolvent gifts made by the bankrupt to complete a property purchase by a family trust settled by the bankrupt and Ms Carrim, the bankrupt's partner (as trustees). The High Court considered:
The New South Wales Court of Appeal recently handed down an important judgment on the remuneration of registered liquidators.
Sakr concerned an appeal by Sanderson as liquidator of Sakr against an order determining his remuneration on anad valorem basis, without reference to his time attendances or hourly rate. Due to the importance of the issues, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association (ARITA) appeared and made submissions on the issue.
In Intext Coatings Ltd (In Liquidation) v Deo, the High Court was again asked to consider the limits of the equitable remedy of tracing (previously considered here). In particular, the Court was asked to consider the circumstances in which 'backward tracing' (the tracing of trust funds used to repay a debt into the asset over which that debt arose) is available.
In the recent High Court case of McKay v Johnson & Smith [2016] NZHC 1691, a liquidator, Geoff Martin Smith, allegedly sent a notice under s 305 of the Companies Act 1993 to the bank that had security over a company in liquidation. The bank did not respond to the notice and Mr Smith alleged that the bank had lost its security. The bank maintained it never received the notice.
The Court was satisfied that the notice had been fabricated because:
In Shlosberg v Avonwick Holdings Ltd [2016] EWHC 1001 (Ch), Mr Shloesberg applied for an order restraining Dechert (a firm of solicitors) from acting for Avonwick (the first respondent) and Mr Shloesberg's Trustees in bankruptcy (the third respondents).
In King v PFL Finance Limited & Anor [2015] NZCA 517, the Kings, a husband and wife team of farmers, arranged finance from PFL Finance Limited but the loan went into default. PFL served PLA notices but failed to serve the Kings as guarantors. A receiver was appointed to the farming operation, who determined to cease trading the day after his appointment.
In Madsen-Ries v Rapid Construction Ltd [2013] NZCA 489, the Court of Appeal considered an appeal concerning a liquidator's attempt to have a payment set aside.
Our September 2012 insolvency update featured the article "Disclaiming Landlord's Interest in a Lease - an Australian Perspective". This article discussed the Victorian Court of Appeal's ruling that section 568(1) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (similar to our own section 269 of the Companies Act 1993 (NZ)) allows a liquidator to exercise his power of disclaimer to extinguish the leasehold estate of a tenant.