Warren Metals v Grant [2013] NZHC 263 was a successful appeal against a District Court decision that struck out the appellant's cause of action on the basis that the District Court did not have jurisdiction to review the acts of liquidators.
In the recent English decision of Neumans LLP v Andronikou & Others, a company had unsuccessfully opposed a winding up petition and the question for the Court was whether the solicitors' costs in doing so were an expense of the administration. In considering this issue, the Court noted that there would have to be "some special reason, connected with the administration" to make the administrators pay fees in full as an expense when statutory provisions did not allow for solicitors to have priority over other creditors and those entitled to claim expenses.
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
This case involved a claim under section 294 of the Companies Act 1993 by the liquidators of Five Star Finance Limited (in liquidation) (FSF) against a trustee of a trading trust (Bowden No. 14 Trust (Trust)) to set aside payments amounting to $928,937.79. These payments were part of a large number of payments, not just from FSF to the Trust, but also from the Trust to FSF.
The recent English decision in the Australian liquidation, New Cap Reinsurance Corpn Ltd (in liquidation) and another v Grant and others (available here), has further opened up the possibility for New Zealand insolvency proceedings to be recognised and enforced in the United Kingdom.
(High Court Auckland, CIV 2010-404-6381, 8 April 2011, Associate Judge Matthews)
In ASB Bank Limited v Hall, the High Court confirmed that a bank does not owe a duty of care to a creditor, director or shareholder of a customer of the bank.
The court had made orders for examination of 4 current and former directors of New Image by the liquidators of Omegatrend.
The High Court judgment in Commissioner of Inland Revenue v Livingspace Properties Ltd (in rec and in liq) [2020] NZHC 1434 is another chapter in the continuing, bitter saga between Robert Walker, the liquidator of Livingspace and David Henderson (through his wife as proxy).
The UK Court of Appeal has held that legal privilege outlasts the dissolution of a company in Addlesee v Dentons Europe LLP [2019] EWCA Civ 1600.
Legal advice privilege applies to communications between a client and its lawyers. The general rule is that those communications cannot be disclosed to third parties unless and until the client waives the privilege.
In what is likely to be the final chapter in the Ross Asset Management (RAM) liquidation, assuming no appeal is filed, the High Court has considered an application for directions by the liquidators of Ross Asset Management concerning how best to distribute recovered funds. David Ross operated RAM as a Ponzi scheme for decades until the fraud was uncovered in 2012 and the company went into liquidation. Mr Ross is currently serving a ten year plus term of imprisonment for his role as architect of the scheme.