The High Court of Australia has resolved a nearly 40-year old question of whether employees of a failed company established as trustee of a trading trust have priority over ordinary unsecured creditors.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has narrowly lost its High Court appeal of a ruling that found the owner of a South Australian outback general store had not acted unconscionably by selling used cars through a “book-up” system.
The High Court has upheld an appeal by a mortgage broker with a history of run-ins with the law, finding that the Administrative Appeals Tribunal could not take spent convictions into account when reviewing ASIC ban orders.
The High Court has granted special leave to mortgage aggregator Connective in a dispute between the firm’s founder and major shareholders over a transfer of one-third of the company’s shares, in a case that could clarify whether litigation should be considered a prohibited form of financial assistance under the Corporations Act.