Turco v Liquor Equity Pty Ltd

In the matter of *Turco v Liquor Equity Pty Ltd*, Mr Turco applied to set aside a bankruptcy notice issued by Liquor Equity Pty Ltd. The dispute centred on Mr Turco's assertion that he was entitled to director's fees from Liquor Equity, which he claimed should be set off against the debt underpinning the bankruptcy notice.

The primary legal issues before the court were whether Mr Turco possessed a valid counter-claim, set-off, or cross-demand that would preclude the bankruptcy notice from being valid. Specifically, the court had to determine if Mr Turco was genuinely entitled to director's fees, and if so, whether such a claim was statute-barred by the relevant limitation periods. The court also considered whether Mr Turco's conduct constituted an abuse of process.

The court found that Mr Turco's assertion of entitlement to director's fees was not credible, particularly given his declaration in his Statement of Affairs in March 2010, where he stated he was not owed any money by the company. The court noted that any contractual entitlement to director's fees would be subject to a six-year limitation period in Western Australia. As Mr Turco's claim for director's fees was first made in an affidavit sworn in June 2017, and the alleged entitlement spanned from 1991 to 2010, the court concluded that the claim was well outside the statutory limitation period. Consequently, the court held that the claim for director's fees, and any potential quantum meruit claim, could not succeed.