Recent decisions from the courts have raised the legal risk for directors and underlined the exposure to third party liability of auditors, trustees and promoters. 

As a result, we can probably expect this year to have more claims made by receivers, liquidators and out-of-pocket investors against those involved in:

A lien is the right to hold on to goods, and in some cases sell them, in order to ensure payment.  Often the debt will be connected with services related to the goods.

A lien can be obtained by contract, or in certain specific situations the law creates it automatically.  The difference can be significant.

Under the Personal Property Securities Act (PPSA), the holder of a common law or statutory lien may in some cases have special priority over a company’s secured creditors.

Types of lien

The Ministry of Economic Development has released a discussion document (together with a Q & A) which considers a range of potential changes to the fees and levies that fund the institutions that regulate New Zealand's corporate environment and financial markets.

Findings last week of criminal liability in the Nathans Finance case echo the Centro ruling from the Australian Federal Court last month and make it clear that directors must apply their own judgement in the exercise of their duties rather than simply relying on management and expert advice.

The court had made orders for examination of 4 current and former directors of New Image by the liquidators of Omegatrend.

Han skrev styreprotokoll. Men han glemte å skrive generalforsamlingsprotokoll. Det kostet ham mange hundre tusen kroner. Det er dyrt ikke å passe på formalitetene.

Han hadde startet et eiendomsprosjekt. Banken krevde at 50 prosent av leilighetene måtte selges før igangsettelse. For å oppfylle kravet og sikre likviditet til selskapet ble noen leiligheter solgt med rabatt for å få opp interessen i startfasen. Han kjøpte selv en av leilighetene med rabatt. Han passet på at kjøpet hans ble styrebehandlet.

Sultani Decrees  

Sultani Decree No. 43/2012

Amends some of the provisions of the Municipal Councils Law promulgated by SD 116/2011.  

Promulgated on 8 August 2012          Effective on promulgation.

Ministerial Decisions and Financial Publications  

Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries

Decision No. 177/2012  

Sultani Decrees

Sultani Decree No. 39/2016

Enacting the Law on the continued validity of the licences of foreign accountancy and audit firms and the exemption of Omani owners of such firms from the full time requirement.

The Law extends the validity of the licences and the exemption up to 31/12/2017 renewable by a decision from the Ministers Council.

Issued on 18 August 2016. Effective from the day after the date of publication.

Sultani Decree No. 40/2016

Ministerial Decisions

Ministerial Decision No. 212/2016 Issuing the Regulations on cultural initiatives Issued on 5 December 2016. Effective from the day after its publication date

Ministerial Decision No. 238/2016 Determining the fees for enrolment in the table of lawyers Issued on 1 December 2016. Effective from the day after its publication date

Ministerial Decisions

Ministerial Decision No. 261/2016 Amending Ministerial Decision No. 1020/2009 (on rights of audience for Omani and non-Omani lawyers). This decision extends the period within which non-Omani lawyers may have a right of audience before the Appeal Courts and Supreme Court to 31 December 2020. Issued on 22 December 2016. Effective from 1 January 2017