White, in the matter of Mossgreen Pty Ltd (Administrators Appointed) v Robertson

The appeal in the matter of Mossgreen Pty Ltd (Administrators Appointed) v Robertson was dismissed by the court on 19 April, following an appeal hearing on 17 April. The administrators of Mossgreen Pty Ltd had been appointed on 21 December 2017 and were responsible for returning consigned items to their rightful owners. The administrators undertook a full stocktake of the consignor property held by the auction house, Mossgreen, and sought to impose a levy for the return of the consignor property, claiming an equitable lien over the property to secure the levy. The court was required to determine whether the administrators could impose such a levy and whether they held an equitable lien over the consignor property.

The court found that the administrators did not have an equitable lien over the consignor property to secure the levy. The court held that the administrators' decision to undertake a full stocktake was not necessary to return most items to their owners, as there was no evidence of a thought process considering the significance of the extent to which the items held were legacy items of little value, the necessity of the stocktake in order to deal with claims by owners, the proportionality of the costs involved to the value of goods, and the likely cost to individual owners if the stocktake was undertaken. The court also found that the administrators' claim for an equitable lien was not supported by the evidence and that the same outcome would not have ensued if a receiver had been appointed to the goods.

The appeal was dismissed, and the matter was remitted to the primary judge to deal with the balance of the application and any other matters raised by the parties. Reasons for the decision are to be published in due course, and entry of orders is dealt with in Rule 39.32 of the Federal Court Rules 2011.