Creditors’ Best Interests: Have they Changed?

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Creditors’ Best Interests: Have they Changed?

Section 440A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the Act) provides that a Court is to adjourn the hearing of a winding up application if the company is under administration and the Court is satisfied that it is in the interests of the company’s creditors for the company to continue under administration rather than be wound up. The authorities on this section are well established and the principles to be applied in such an application are well known. Despite this, there is a tendency for the outcome of these applications to be unpredictable.

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Levelling the Playing Field: The legislative response to unfair terms in small business contracts

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Levelling the Playing Field: The legislative response to unfair terms in small business contracts

Commercial Law | By Paul Pascoe and Paul Mac

A recent change to the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) aims to alter the landscape of contracts entered into between small and large businesses for the supply of goods or services.
Historically, there has been a trend for large businesses to exert a certain level of clout to effectively push smaller businesses, with less bargaining power, to sign contracts on terms highly favourable to the more powerful parties. However, the scope of protection now afforded under section 23 of the ACL has been expanded to include parties to small business contracts, as well as individual consumers.

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Badran v Public Transport Authority of Western Australia

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Badran v Public Transport Authority of Western Australia

In 2009, Mr Badran was travelling on a return concession train ticket from Perth to Rockingham when he was approached by two Public Transport Authority Revenue security officers and asked to provide proof of his concession entitlement. Mr Badran produced an expired concession card containing his full name and address, but not his date of birth. One of the officers asked Mr Badran to supply his date of birth so that an infringement notice could be issued. Mr Badran refused to do so, asking instead that the notice be mailed to him.

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Most Unfair - the Expansion of the Uncommercial Transaction

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Most Unfair - the Expansion of the Uncommercial Transaction

The liquidator of Ashala Model Agency Pty Ltd (Company) commenced recovery proceedings against Featherstone, the Company’s shadow director. Relevantly, Featherstone had paid himself using the Company account to clear a loan that he provided to the Company. Featherstone ultimately used that money to purchase a residential property for his de facto partner, who was also the main shareholder of Ashala. The monies paid to Featherstone rendered the Company insolvent.

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