Mundubbera Hotel Pty Ltd v Curran

Mundubbera Hotel Pty Ltd brought an application against Curran to set aside a statutory demand. The hotel sought to set aside the statutory demand on the basis that it did not owe the amount claimed and that it had a genuine dispute with the creditor over the amount owed. The matter was heard in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia. The central issue before the court was whether the affidavit provided by the hotel was sufficient to establish a genuine dispute over the amount claimed in the statutory demand. The court also needed to determine whether the hotel had an offsetting claim that could be taken into account in setting aside the demand.

The court found that the hotel's affidavit was sufficient to demonstrate a genuine dispute over the amount claimed in the statutory demand. The affidavit provided details of the hotel's transactions with the creditor and identified discrepancies in the amount claimed. The court accepted that the hotel had a genuine dispute over the amount owed and that the affidavit provided sufficient evidence to support this claim. The court also found that the hotel had an offsetting claim against the creditor, which could be taken into account in setting aside the demand. The court varied the amount of the demand to reflect the hotel's offsetting claim, and declared that the demand had effect as so varied, as from when the demand was served on the applicant. The court ordered that the substantiated amount of the demand be $3,200 and that the demand be varied to that amount.