Robert Aitken recently successfully acted for the applicant in Supreme Court proceedings of Advanced Green Technologies Inc v Sky Shades Australia Pty Ltd. The applicant, based in Florida, USA, was owed some substantial amounts of money by the respondent company. The applicant served a statutory demand under the Corporations Act requiring the respondent to make payment within 21 days as there was no genuine dispute about the monies being owing. The respondent failed to make payment and as such, it had committed an act of insolvency.
The applicant as such applied to the Supreme Court asking for orders that the respondent company be wound up in insolvency and a liquidator appointed to the company. In a hearing before the Supreme Court of Queensland, the Court was satisfied that the applicant had proved its case in this litigation and as such, made relevant orders winding up the company and appointing liquidators and ordering the respondent company to pay the applicant’s legal costs associated with the application.
The use of the statutory demand in appropriate cases, where there is no genuine dispute about the debt owing, is a valuable tool in debt recovery matters. It avoids a party having to first prove their loss in a court through a trial or other proceedings and the time and expense involved in those processes. It allows a creditor to go directly to enforcement procedures and if the 21 day period expires without satisfaction, can apply to the Supreme Court or Federal Court to obtain orders that the debtor company be wound up in insolvency. That being said, if the company has no assets, it does not mean that a creditor necessarily is going to recover what is owed to them.
Brisbane
Aitken Whyte Lawyers Brisbane
2/414 Upper Roma Street
Brisbane QLD 4000
