Federal Court of Australia
FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA
Samootin v Official Trustee in Bankruptcy [2009] FCA 408
ALEXANDRA SAMOOTIN v OFFICIAL TRUSTEE IN BANKRUPTCY
NSD 1943 of 2008
JACOBSON J
21 APRIL 2009
SYDNEY
IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA
NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY NSD 1943 of 2008
BETWEEN: ALEXANDRA SAMOOTIN
Applicant
AND: OFFICIAL TRUSTEE IN BANKRUPTCY
Respondent
JUDGE: JACOBSON J
DATE OF ORDER: 21 APRIL 2009
WHERE MADE: SYDNEY
THE COURT ORDERS THAT:
1. The application be dismissed. 2. The applicant pay the respondent's costs of the application.
Note: Settlement and entry of orders is dealt with in Order 36 of the Federal Court Rules. The text of entered orders can be located using eSearch on the Court's website. IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA
NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY NSD 1943 of 2008
BETWEEN: ALEXANDRA SAMOOTIN
Applicant
AND: OFFICIAL TRUSTEE IN BANKRUPTCY
Respondent
JUDGE: JACOBSON J
DATE: 21 APRIL 2009
PLACE: SYDNEY
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT 1 The applicant, Ms Samootin, is bankrupt. She was made bankrupt by a sequestration order of the Federal Magistrates Court dated 24 May 2006. The judgment debt upon which the petition was founded arose in part from costs incurred by Ms Samootin in proceedings heard in the Equity Division of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, matter 1973/01, and in appeals and related proceedings. 2 The genesis of Ms Samootin's complaint arises from the sale of her former matrimonial home at 82 Waterview Street, Mona Vale. That property was owned jointly by Ms Samootin and her former husband, Mr Christopher Shea. The proceeds of sale of the property were used by Mr Shea, his friend, Mr Deans, and a company now called Loan Design Pty Ltd, to purchase properties at 24 and 26 Oxford Falls Road, Beacon Hill. Mr Deans' company, S.R. Deans Pty Ltd, was the sole shareholder of Loan Design. Title to the properties at Beacon Hill was taken in the name of Shea Delite Pty Ltd, now known as Loan Design, as sole registered proprietor. 3 The trial of the proceedings brought by Ms Samootin against Mr Shea, Mr Deans and Loan Design, took place before Palmer J. His Honour described the proceedings as a tragic case for all who have been involved in it. He said, at [1], that Ms Samootin has developed a fixation that she has been a victim of a fraudulent conspiracy between Mr Shea and Mr Deans, in which she has been cheated out of her home. His Honour referred, at [4], to the ocean of litigation that has enveloped the parties since 1998. He described it in stronger terms as a "nightmarish web of litigation", although Ms Samootin objects to that description. 4 However it is described, it is plain that the tally of cases continues to mount and that, by reason of her bankruptcy, Ms Samootin has embroiled the Official Trustee in Bankruptcy in the costly and time-consuming exercise of dealing with the processes of the courts. 5 In this application Ms Samootin seeks an order pursuant to s 19 and other sections of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 (Cth) that the Official Trustee: seize the Shea/Samootin marital property of the bankrupt wife and her non-bankrupt ex-husband, namely 24 Oxford Falls Road, Beacon Hil … and to sell the property by auction. 6 Ms Samootin seeks this order for the purpose of enabling the completion of proceedings for property settlement or property adjustments in the Family Court. The Family Court matter has been listed for hearing on 6 July 2009. It was largely for this reason that the present application was listed before me for urgent hearing on 20 April 2009. 7 Ms Samootin seeks a number of orders in her amended application filed on 16 March 2009. I need mention only two of them. The first is an allegation made against Ms Nash and the Official Trustee in respect of what is said to be their wilful and deliberate mismanagement and dereliction of duties. Ms Samootin seeks the removal of Ms Nash as the solicitor for the Official Trustee, so that some other solicitor should be appointed to act for the Official Trustee in relation to her bankruptcy. I should mention here that Ms Samootin made strong allegations against Ms Nash, but for reasons which I will refer to later, the allegations are unfounded. 8 The second order which I should mention is an order which Ms Samootin seeks that the Official Trustee seek leave in the Equity Division of the Supreme Court, in matter number 1973/01, for an order for sale of 24 Oxford Falls Road. In the course of the application, she also sought an order under section 66G of the Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW), or an order that the Official Trustee seek such an order in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. 9 To understand the basis upon which the present orders are sought, it is necessary for me to trace the details of some part of the history of what I have called the ocean of litigation.
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