Tonbul Baykal v Terry Van Der Velde as trustee for bankrupt estate of Hakan Tandogan

Tonbul Baykal sought a declaration that certain property was held on constructive trust by the trustee for the bankrupt estate of Hakan Tandogan. The matter was initially heard in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, which was asked to determine whether it should order the transfer of the proceedings to the Federal Court under the Jurisdiction of Courts (Cross Vesting) Act 1987 (Cth). The legal issues before the court were whether the application was a “special federal matter” within the meaning of section 6(1) of the Act and, if so, whether the matter was “in bankruptcy” and, therefore, a special federal matter.

The court considered the criteria for determining whether a matter is a special federal matter and concluded that the application was indeed such a matter because it involved a question of bankruptcy law. The court also noted that the matter was “in bankruptcy” because it sought to determine whether property was held on constructive trust by the trustee for the bankrupt estate. Therefore, the matter fell within the definition of a special federal matter under section 6(1) of the Act. The court held that it was required to order the transfer of the matter to the Federal Court because the application was a special federal matter and the matter was “in bankruptcy.”

The Supreme Court of New South Wales ordered the transfer of the matter to the Federal Court. The court found that the application was a special federal matter because it involved a question of bankruptcy law and the matter was “in bankruptcy” because it sought to determine whether property was held on constructive trust by the trustee for the bankrupt estate. The court held that it was required to order the transfer of the matter to the Federal Court because the application was a special federal matter and the matter was “in bankruptcy.”