Roufeil v Fiore, in the matter of the Bankrupt Estate of Peter Andrew Fiore (No 3)

The case of Roufeil v Fiore, in the matter of the Bankrupt Estate of Peter Andrew Fiore (No 3) was heard by the Federal Court of Australia. The applicants sought declarations regarding the attendance at the return of examination summonses issued in relation to the bankrupt estate of Peter Andrew Fiore. The first respondent, Peter Fiore, was not served with the examination summonses, and no conduct money was tendered to the respondents. The applicants sought declarations that the respondents were not in jeopardy of a warrant for their arrest for non-attendance at the examinations.

The court was required to decide whether the respondents were in jeopardy of a warrant for their arrest for non-attendance at the examinations due to the absence of service of the examination summonses on the first respondent and the lack of conduct money tendered. The court needed to determine whether the respondents could be lawfully examined without the need to tender conduct money, and whether the non-service of the examination summonses on the first respondent affected the validity of the summonses.

The court found that the first respondent was not in jeopardy of a warrant for his arrest for non-attendance at the examinations because he had not been validly served with the examination summonses. The court also found that each of the respondents was not in jeopardy of a warrant for their arrest for non-attendance at the examinations because the applicant had not tendered or otherwise provided conduct money in respect of the examination summonses served on each respondent. The court declared that the examinations of the respondents were adjourned to a date to be fixed, and the return of the examination summonses, insofar as they required any examination to take place on 8 and 9 August 2019, was vacated. The applicant was ordered to pay the respondents' costs of the interlocutory application.