Murdaca v Accounts Control Management Services Pty Ltd

This appeal concerns the appeal of a decision of a Federal Magistrate dismissing an application for review of a sequestration order made against the estate of the appellant. The Federal Magistrate had found that the appellant had not discharged the onus of proving solvency and had dismissed the application to review the sequestration order. The grounds of appeal challenge the Federal Magistrate’s findings on the issues of solvency and the failure to go behind the Local Court judgment to determine the existence of a debt. The appeal was dismissed.

The appeal concerned two issues. First, whether the Federal Magistrate erred by failing to go behind the judgment of the Local Court to determine if there was a debt owed to the respondent. Second, whether the Federal Magistrate’s discretion to make the sequestration order miscarried in that, in assessing the appellant’s solvency, the Federal Magistrate made errors of fact, took into account irrelevant matters and failed to give sufficient weight to other matters. The Court found that the Federal Magistrate had not erred in law or fact and that the Federal Magistrate’s discretion had not miscarried. The appeal was dismissed.