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High Court Bulletin

Produced by the Legal Research Officer,
High Court of Australia Library

[2018] HCAB 7 (24 September 2018)

A record of recent High Court of Australia cases: decided, reserved for judgment, awaiting hearing in the Court’s original jurisdiction, granted special leave to appeal, refused special leave to appeal and not proceeding or vacated

1: Summary of New Entries
2: Cases Handed Down
3: Cases Reserved
4: Original Jurisdiction
5: Section 40 Removal
6: Special Leave Granted
7: Cases Not Proceeding or Vacated
8: Special Leave Refused

1: Summary of New Entries

2: Cases Handed Down

Case	Title
Mighty River International Limited v Hughes & Ors; Mighty River International Limited v Mineral Resources Limited & Ors	Corporations
Pipikos v Trayans	Equity
The Queen v Dennis Bauer (A Pseudonym)	Evidence
QLN146 v The Republic of Nauru	Migration
QLN147 v The Republic of Nauru	Migration

3: Cases Reserved

Case	Title
Williams v Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council & Anor	Interpretation
BEG15 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection & Anor	Migration
CQZ15 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection & Anor	Migration
Minister for Immigration and Border Protection v SZMTA & Anor	Migration
Northern Territory of Australia v Mr A Griffiths (deceased) and Lorraine Jones on behalf of the Ngaliwurru and Nungali Peoples & Anor; Commonwealth of Australia v Mr A Griffiths (deceased) and Lorraine Jones on behalf of the Ngaliwurru and Nungali Peoples & Anor; Mr A Griffiths (deceased) and Lorraine Jones on behalf of the Ngaliwurru and Nungali Peoples v Northern Territory of Australia & Anor	Native Title

4: Original Jurisdiction

5: Section 40 Removal

Case	Title
Comcare v Banerji	Constitutional Law

6: Special Leave Granted

Case	Title
Brisbane City Council v Amos	Procedure

7: Cases Not Proceeding or Vacated

The Commonwealth of Australia & Anor v Commissioner Bret Walker SC & Anor

Constitutional Law

2: Cases Handed Down

The following cases were handed down by the High Court of Australia during the September 2018 sittings.

Corporations

Mighty River International Limited v Hughes & Anor; Mighty River International Limited v Mineral Resources Limited & Ors

P7/2018, P8/2018: [2018] HCA 38

Reasons published: 12 September 2018

Coram: Kiefel CJ, Gageler, Nettle, Gordon and Edelman JJ

Catchwords:

Companies – Voluntary administration – Deed of company arrangement – Where administrator required to form opinion about certain matters as soon as practicable after administration begins – Where administrator required to convene meeting of creditors within convening period – Where convening period may be extended by court order – Where company executed deed which imposed moratorium on creditors' claims while administrators conducted further investigations – Where deed provided no property of company available for distribution to creditors – Whether deed impermissibly extended convening period – Whether administrators formed the requisite opinions – Whether deed should have specified some property available for distribution to creditors – Whether deed a valid deed of company arrangement – Whether deed should be declared void.
Words and phrases – "arrangement alternative to liquidation", "convening period", "deed of…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

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Details

Case: [2018] HCAB 7
Decision Date

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Mighty River International Limited brought proceedings against a number of respondents seeking, amongst other things, declarations that a deed of company arrangement entered into by the company was valid and should be enforced. The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia dismissed the proceedings. The High Court dismissed the appeal and held that the Full Court was correct to find that the deed was invalid. The deed did not provide that any property of the company was available for distribution to creditors, which was a requirement under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). The Court held that the Full Court was also correct to find that the administrator had not formed the requisite opinions as soon as practicable after the administration began, as required by the Corporations Act. The Court further held that the deed should not have extended the convening period, as it was not permitted by the Act. The Full Court was also correct to find that the deed should be declared void. The appeal was dismissed with costs.

Orders