Last week, the High Court dismissed an appeal in Carter Holt Harvey Woodproducts Australia Pty Ltd v The Commonwealth of Australia and Others[2019] HCA 20.
Amerind Pty Ltd became insolvent in 2014, with $21 million in debts repaid to Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, leaving a receivership surplus of about $1.6 million.
The Commonwealth of Australia had sought to claim the surplus to compensate $3.8 million in accrued wages and entitlements to former employees of Amerind under the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Scheme.
Carter Holt, a creditor of Amerind, competed against the claim, submitting that section 433 of the Corporations Act did not afford priority to the Commonwealth.
Carter Holt had sought to overturn the decision of the Court of Appea…
Read the full article at: https://www.accountantsdaily.com.au/business/13190-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-employees-in-an-insolvency