Dispute Resolution & Insolvency
Federal Government Announces Temporary Changes to Insolvency Laws
March 26, 2020Relief for Financially Distressed Businesses After acknowledging that measures to slow the spread of coronavirus could cause many otherwise profitable businesses to face...
Wills: Greedy v Needy
July 4, 2018Dissecting Decisions: Swanson v Reis [2018] SASC 20 An Inheritance (Family Provision) claim has been dismissed on the first limb for the first...
Set-off Defence Gains Ground in Unfair Preference Claims
July 4, 2018Is Morton v Rexel Electrical Supplies Pty Ltd [2015] QDC 49 (Rexel) gaining ground across Australia? In 2015, Queensland District Court Judge Searles...
Contract Termination for Insolvency – Not Anymore!
July 4, 2018So you think that you have the right to terminate a contract if the other side is insolvent? Maybe not as of 1...
Australian Executor Trustee Ltd v Suncorp Life
November 8, 2017Arson by Deceased Leads to Claim on Life Insurance Policy Summary In 2008 a house on the outskirts of Renmark in the South...
Client Profile: The Royal Agricultural & Horticultural Society of SA Inc
October 31, 2017With the fun, competition and pageantry of the Adelaide Show over for another year, we take a peek behind the scenes at the...
Succession Law: Tiburzi v Butler [2017] SASCFC 89 (28 July 2017)
October 31, 2017What seems grossly unjust at first glance, is often more complicated than we think. A tale often told, a father passes away, leaving...
The Risks of Acting for/as Trustee Companies
October 31, 2017The trustee has been quoted to be the ‘archetype of a fiduciary’.[1] The trustee and beneficiary relationship is the most traditional fiduciary relationship...
Copyright Infringement
October 31, 2017The imitation game: the perils of copying a developer’s code How much pre-existing source code can a software or firmware developer use before...
Oppression Claims by Minority Shareholders
October 31, 2017Have you or are you being oppressed? Companies are, more often than not, controlled by a single shareholder or a group of shareholders....
DW Fox Tucker Partners With one of SA’s Oldest Law Firms
June 22, 2017If you’ve lived in South Australia for any length of time, you may have heard of Mouldens. Founded in 1851 Mouldens are highly...
The ‘Stepping Stone’ Doctrine
June 22, 2017Are Directors Liable for their Company’s Contraventions of the Corporations Act? The ‘stepping stone’ doctrine is the term used to describe an action...
A Safe Harbour From Insolvent Trading?
June 22, 2017In late March 2017, draft reform legislation in relation to the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (“the Act”) was introduced as part of the...
When Should “Without Prejudice” Be Used?
June 22, 2017It’s a common, and often savvy, tool used in negotiations and disputes, however, can marking your correspondence as “without prejudice” actually have the...
Inheritance Disputes
December 16, 2016It is an unfortunate, but all too common, scenario that upon the death of a family member – usually a parent – the...
Solicitor’s Duty of Care
May 26, 2016“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” William Shakespeare (1564-1616). But then who will we have left to sue? It...
Liquidator’s Beware – Selling Assets of an Insolvent Corporate Trustee
February 15, 2016Can a liquidator of a Corporate Trustee sell assets previously held in the name of that trustee if the Company is no longer...
Litigation Funding in Recovery Proceedings
February 15, 2016A “make work scheme”? Can liquidators pursue preference claims which, in isolation, may do no more than pay for the cost of the...
A Personally Injured Bankrupt?
February 15, 2016Does damage to “body, mind and soul” in commercial proceedings amount to “personal injury”? In Garrett v Mildara Blass Limited [2015] SASC 176...
Strategy is King
September 7, 2015“If you must be in a hurry, then let it be according to the old adage, and hasten slowly” – Saint Vincent de...
Grocery Retailers Agree to Self-Regulation
May 31, 2015The Food and Grocery Code of Conduct In 2013 the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) and its members commenced engaging in discussions...
To Err is Human
May 31, 2015Could lawyers be mere mortals after all? A recent District Court case http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/sa/SADC/2015/66.html has held that expert witnesses are entitled to be paid...
The Final Report is Out – Where to Now?
May 31, 2015The Personal Property Securities Act… 3 years on Unless you have been living under a rock, every person in business has probably heard...
The Employer Strikes Back
May 31, 2015Taking action against errant employees Most employers who suffer loss as a result of the wrongful actions of an employee take the loss...
Disputes and Litigation
May 31, 2015Mitigate your potential exposure I recently, together with DW Fox Tucker colleagues Mark Minarelli and Girish Rao, presented to the Australian Institute of...
Disputed Progress Payment Claims
May 31, 2015The processes under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2009 (SA) The Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act...
Share it Fairly but don’t Take A Slice of My Pie!
May 31, 2015Consequences of insolvency in the context of claims under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2009 (SA) This has been...
Calling All Failed “Blockheads” – Building Works Gone Wrong
March 19, 2015Many of you may have been inspired to build a new house or renovate your existing house/property by television shows such as “The...
Receivership: Post Appointment Employee Entitlements
March 19, 2015To pay or not to pay? That is the question What is receivership? Receivership is a form of external administration which may apply...
False, Misleading Or Deceptive Conduct: The ACCC Widens The Net To Include Directors And Others
July 25, 2013The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission [ACCC] has announced that it is moving from a focus of compliance review to an enforcement-focus approach...