The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court decision, agreeing with receivers that certain sales by the debtor were not in the ordinary course of business, but rather payments to an unsecured creditor.
In this case1 when the debtor began to experience cash flow difficulties, it established another company to purchase stock, which the debtor would find buyers for. Sales were made either in the name of the new company, or the debtor would account to the new company for the sale proceeds.
The Gibson & Stiassny v StockCo & Ors litigation in relation to the Crafar receivership has clarified important aspects of the Personal Property Securities Act 1999 (PPSA).
The procedures seem obvious in the abstract but, as the case demonstrates, can be less obvious on the ground:
It is not uncommon for a receiver, liquidator or competing creditor to be presented with a security agreement, the ink on which appears scarcely to be dry.
If that secured creditor registered on the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) months or years earlier, does that registration date determine priority between competing security interests? Or is that unfair to other creditors?
Finnigan v He underlines the obligatory nature of bankruptcy set-off whereby once the statutory requirements that exist in section 310 of the Companies Act 1993 are met (and no exclusion applies), such a set-off is mandatory. It also discusses when a transaction occurs and the operation of the exclusion in section 310(2) that preludes bankruptcy set-off.
The case of Taylor and Ors v B concerned a company that imported and distributed hair care products, Cabellos Holdings Limited.
Khan v Reid acts as a reminder to file applications and appeals promptly.
Between 2006 and 2010, 50 New Zealand finance companies either went into liquidation or receivership, or froze payments. The Securities Commission has now released information about its investigations into these finance companies.
The information released highlights the Commission's work to date, the companies being investigated, the status of the investigations and the behaviour or act that triggered the Commission's involvement. It also answers some common questions about the Commission's work in connection with the failures, including:
In Stiassny v Commissioner of Inland Revenue the court considered whether the receivers of 2 companies trading together in partnership were personally liable for GST on the sale of partnership assets, and whether a claim could be made against the Commissioner of Inland Revenue for money had and received.
ACC had contracted OPC to provide services. OPC's directors later established the OPC Trust, with OPC as the trustee, and 3 residuary trusts as beneficiaries.