Independent Insurance Company Ltd [2005] NSWSC 587

Reported Decision : (2005) 23 ACLC 1337

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Independent Insurance Company Ltd [2005] NSWSC 587

HEARING DATE(S) : 23/05/05

JUDGMENT DATE : 22 June 2005

Equity Division JURISDICTION : Corporations List

JUDGMENT OF : Barrett J

DECISION : Originating process dismissed

CATCHWORDS : CORPORATIONS - cross-border insolvency - letter of request directed by High Court of Justice of England and Wales to Supreme Court of New South Wales - application by English company and its provisional liquidators for orders in aid of English court - auxiliary jurisdiction under Corporations Act, s.581, considered - recognition, as a matter of comity, of English order appointing provisional liquidators - whether "external administration matter" shown to exist - availability of general equitable remedies in aid of English court - whether declaratory relief appropriate where no lis inter partes - whether declaratory relief of any utility - whether final injunctive relief should be granted ex parte against persons generally - whether comity requires making of orders of a kind made by English court in generally reciprocal circumstances - whether auxiliary jurisdiction extends to replication of orders made by courts in the United States and Ireland

Bankruptcy Act 1966 (Cth), s.29(2) Bankruptcy Code (US), s.304(b) Companies Act 1963 (Ireland), ss.222, 250 LEGISLATION CITED : Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), ss.471B, 580, 581 Corporations Regulations 2001 (Cth), reg. 5.6.74 Insolvency Act 1986 (UK), ss.130(2), 426

Ainsworth v Criminal Justice Commission (1992) 175 CLR 564 Al Sabah v Grupo Torras SA [2005] 2 WLR 904 Antonarkis v Delly (1976) 51 ALJR 21 Australian Securities Commission v Ampolex Ltd (1995) 38 NSWLR 504 Ayres v Evans (1981) 39 ALR 129 Belan v Casey [2002] NSWSC 58 BP Australia Ltd v Brown (2003) 58 NSWLR 322 Carr v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2005] EWHC 971 (QB) Dick v McIntosh [2001] FCA 1008 Electricity Commission of New South Wales v Arrow (unreported, NSWSC, Hodgson J, 7 December 1990) England v Smith [2001] 1 Ch 419 Epic Energy (WA) Nominees Pty Ltd v Michael (2003) 27 WAR 515 Forster v Jododex Mines Pty Ltd (1972) 72 CLR 421 Fourie v Le Roux [2005] EWCA Civ 204 H (a Healthcare Worker) v Associated Newspapers Ltd [2002] EWCA Civ 195 Hall v Woolf (1908) 7 CLR 207 Harrison v Goodland (1944) 69 CLR 509 Hughes v Hannover Ruckversicherungs AG [1997] 1 BCLC 497 CASES CITED : Iveson v Harris (1802) 7 Ves Jun 251; 32 ER 102 Jagger v Darling [2005] EWHC 683 (Ch) Macaulay v Guaranty Trust Company of New York (1927) 44 TLR 99 Maritime Union of Australia v Patrick Stevedores Operations Pty Ltd [1998] 4 VR 143 McPhail v Persons Names Unknown [1973] 1 Ch 447 Mills v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2001] EWHC 412 Ch Re a Debtor [1981] Ch 384 Re AFG Insurances Ltd (2002) 20 ACLC 1588 Re AFG Insurances Ltd (2002) 43 ACSR 60 Re Culmer 25 BR 621 (1982) Re IIT (1975) 58 DLR (3d) 55 Re Macks; Ex parte Saint (2000) 204 CLR 158 Re S (a child) [2003] EWCA Civ 963 Re Singer 205 BR 355 (SDNY 1997) Re Vocalion (Foreign) Ltd [1932] 2 Ch 196 Re X (a Minor) [1984] 1 WLR 1422 Tony Blain Pty Ltd v Splain [1993] 32 NZLR 185 Venables v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2001] 2 WLR 1038 X (a Woman Formerly Known as Mary Bell) v O'Brien [2003] EWHC 1101 (QB)