Park (Trustee) v Tschannen (Bankrupt) (No 2)

The case of Park (Trustee) v Tschannen (Bankrupt) (No 2) involved the trustee, Park, seeking substituted service of legal documents on Tschannen, a bankrupt, as personal service had been unsuccessful. The dispute centred on the appropriate method of serving the Form 9 Summons for Examination, the Notice of Filing and Hearing, and sealed court orders on Tschannen, who was residing overseas. The Federal Court of Australia was tasked with determining whether the proposed substituted service methods were appropriate under rule 10.49 of the Federal Court Rules 2011.

The legal issues before the court were whether the methods proposed for substituted service were likely to bring the documents to Tschannen’s attention either directly or indirectly. This included examining whether Tschannen’s contact with his niece, Alicia Gorham, and his former business associate, Alan Herbert, provided sufficient grounds for the proposed service methods. The court also had to consider whether the methods complied with the Federal Court Rules and if they were likely to result in Tschannen receiving the documents in a timely manner.

The court found that the proposed methods of substituted service were likely to reach Tschannen either directly or indirectly through his contacts. Emails sent to various email addresses associated with Tschannen, including those of his niece and former business associate, were deemed likely to bring the documents to his attention. Additionally, the court noted that the email address [email protected] had previously been used by Tschannen to communicate with Herbert. The court concluded that these methods complied with the Federal Court Rules and were sufficient to ensure Tschannen received the necessary documents.

The court granted the application for substituted service, allowing the trustee to serve Tschannen via the proposed email addresses and a short message service (SMS) message. The court also ruled that service would be deemed effective five business days after the completion of the service. Furthermore, the costs of the application were to be paid from the bankrupt estate, and the examination of Tschannen was scheduled for a specific date and location.