Formosa House Pty Ltd v Chang

The case of Formosa House Pty Ltd v Chang involved a dispute over a statutory demand served on Formosa House by Chang. The application to set aside the statutory demand was made before the Supreme Court of Victoria. The primary issue before the court was whether it had jurisdiction to hear the application given the manner and timing of the statutory demand's service.

The court needed to determine if it had jurisdiction to hear the application to set aside the statutory demand. This hinged on the interpretation of relevant sections of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth). Specifically, the court examined sections 109X and 459G of the Corporations Act, and section 29 of the Acts Interpretation Act. The court also considered the implications of the Evidence Act 2008 (Vic) section 160 in assessing the service of the statutory demand.

In its decision, the court found that it had jurisdiction to hear the application. The reasoning was based on a literal interpretation of the statutory provisions, which allowed for the application to be made within 20 business days of the demand being served. The court held that the statutory demand was effectively served by post on the date of mailing, as per section 29 of the Acts Interpretation Act. Consequently, the application to set aside the demand was deemed timely, and the court exercised its jurisdiction to hear the matter. The statutory demand was ultimately set aside.

The final orders of the court included setting aside the statutory demand served by Chang on Formosa House. The court ordered that the demand was to be treated as null and void, and it directed the parties to bear their own costs of the application.