Some big NSW Court of Appeal decisions should be handed down in the next couple of months and they have got this insolvency nerd a little excited …
1. South Head & District Synagogue – the first instance decision ruled that an Administrator could not ‘sack’ a Rabbi of the Jewish faith, because the contract of employment had incorporated provisions of Jewish law. This decision has been appealed and the hearing is some 2 months old.
2. Evolvebuilt case has been appealed and the hearing was 2+ months ago – the case relates to (in my personal view) an incorrect narrowing of the right for a liquidator to recover third party preference payments.
3. Lewis Securities v Carter – a case applying knowing assistance in breach of director duties principles from Barnes v Addy … these are always interesting.
4. Pentelow v Bell Lawyers – whether a barrister, acting for themselves, may recover their own costs? The first instance decision said no, not in NSW. The case has been pending since August 2017, in anticipation of last Friday’s High Court case (Coshott v Spencer).
I will endeavour to keep you updated once these decisions are handed down soon.
