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[2008] NSWSC 839
Supreme Court of NSW
2008-07-31
Bryson AJ
Original judgment source is linked above.
CITATION : Arrow Custodians Pty Ltd v Pine Forests of Australia Pty Ltd [2008] NSWSC 839
Upon the Notice of Motion filed on 12 October 2007 by Stephen James Parbery and Andrew Leslie Smith: 1. Order that the payment by Andrew Leslie Smith and Stephen James Parbery (together, Joint Trustees) of each of the amounts described in paragraphs 1(a), (b) and (c) be confirmed. (a) $190,600.17 to Arrow/N M Rothschild & Sons (Australia) Limited in repayment of funding provided to the Joint Trustees; and (b) $52,509.25 to Strategic Resources (Aus) Pty Limited in respect of amounts paid by it to the Rural Lands Protection Board and Oberon Council, after the date of the appointment of the Joint Trustees; and (c) $3,963.00 to Strategic Resources (Aus) Pty Limited in respect of amounts paid by it to Tableland Surveyors, after the date of the appointment of the Joint Trustees. 2. Order that the Joint Trustees be at liberty to pay, in full and final settlement of any claim for legal costs arising out of the proceedings in which the Joint Trustees were appointed by Ausforest Limited (Receivers and Managers Appointed) (In Liquidation) and Pine Forests of Australia Pty Limited (PFA), the high range estimates by the Joint Trustees' costs consultant of the likely costs recoveries for those claims. 3. Order that the Joint Trustees be at liberty to pay, in full and final settlement of any claim by Pine Forests of Australia (Canberra) Pty Limited (In Liquidation) for legal costs arising out of the proceedings in which the Joint Trustees were appointed, the sum of $9,996.42 inclusive of GST (being one half of the sum of $19,992.84 claimed in the Bill of Costs admitted into evidence as Exhibit B). 4. Direct that the Trustees not pay any of the claims notified by Pine Forests of Australia Pty Limited, other than the claims confirmed by Order 1. 5. Orders that the Joint Trustees be at liberty to distribute the proceeds of sale of the Land according to the following relative value of each lot: DECISION : Lot 1 0.2752 Lot 4 0.2130 Lot 7 0.1753 Lot 8 0.1165 Lot 9 0.1012 Lot 10 0.1187 Direct that the Trustees proceed to consider and determine the claims of Henry Turpin and Dooley in accordance with the reasons published by the Court; with liberty to apply for further directions if the Trustees consider that there is any doubt or difficulty. 7. Direct that the Trustees proceed to distribute the net proceeds of sale after payment of costs and expenses in accordance with the distribution methodology stated in the evidence of Andrew Leslie Smith: but that they retain the part of the net proceeds attributable to the interests of unlocated investors. 8. Direct that the Trustees apply the part of the net proceeds attributable to the interests of unlocated investors to meeting such claims as may be established on or before 19 April 2010: and deal with any amount then unclaimed in accordance with the Unclaimed Money Act 1995: that in the meantime they take steps to advertise and otherwise make publicly available information about the possibility of claims and the names so far as known of unallocated investors: with liberty to apply for directions. Upon the First Defendant's Amended Notice of Motion filed on 29 July 2008 9 Dismiss the Notice of Motion.
CATCHWORDS : PARTITION - Statutory Trust for Sale s66G of Conveyancing Act 1919 - sale of Hai Welyki pine plantation owned by several thousand joint tenants of Lots - application by Trustees for sale for directions on payments and distribution methodology - application by one co-owner for directions for payment of its claims for rates paid and work done before and after s66G Order - consideration of claims based on contribution, constructive trust, implied contract - Trustees directed not to pay those claims.
Conveyancing Act 1919 LEGISLATION CITED : Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). Trustee Act 1925 Unclaimed Money Act 1995
Anonymus in Chancery, Skinner 230, 90 ER 106 Baumgartner v Baumgartner (1987) 164 CLR 137 Forgeard v Shanahan (1994) 35 NSWLR 206 Horn v Gilpin (1755) Ambler 255, 27 ER 17 CASES CITED : Muschinski v Dodds (1985) 160 CLR 583 Re Fettell (1952) 52 SR (NSW) 22 Ryan v Dries [2002] NSWCA 3 Strelly v Winson (1684) 1 Vernon 297, 23 ER 480 Whitehead v Whitehead [2002] NSWSC 486, (2003) NSW ConvR 56-045
Arrow Custodians Pty Limited - Plaintiff PARTIES : Pine Forests of Australia Pty Limited - First Defendant Ausforest Limited (In Liquidation) (Receivers and Managers Appointed) - Second Defendant S J Parbery and A L Smith - Joint Trustees - Applicants
P M Wood and T Breakspear - Plaintiff and Second Defendant COUNSEL : B A Coles QC and I R Pike - First Defendant G C Lindsay SC - Joint Trustees
Blake Dawson Waldron - Plaintiff and Second Defendant SOLICITORS : Johnson Winter & Slattery Lawyers - First Defendant Corrs Chambers Westgarth - Joint Trustees
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES EQUITY DIVISION
6042/2005 ARROW CUSTODIANS PTY LTD v PINE FORESTS OF AUSTRALIA PTY LTD JUDGMENT 1 HIS HONOUR: On 19 April 2006 Young CJ in Eq made orders under s 66G of the Conveyancing Act 1919 and appointed Mr Parbery and Mr Smith, (the Trustees for Sale) as Statutory Trustees for Sale of the whole of the land in Lots 1, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10 in Deposited Plan 264564. At the same time the Court ordered that the Registrar General was to cancel all certificates of title and register folios relating to the lots and create a new folio of the register to each of the lots showing the Trustees for Sale as registered proprietors. These lots, and other land nearby, were the subject of elaborate and (as time has shown) impractical arrangements to conduct pine plantations. These lots are situated in the Oberon distinct in New South Wales and are known as Hai Welyki. In earlier litigation Young CJ in Eq appointed Statutory Trustees for Sale of the adjacent Lot 3; Pine Forests of Australia Pty Ltd [2005] NSWSC 151 , 219 ALR 692. The Trustees for Sale have sold the land and now seek directions on a number of matters, and only one subject, a large subject, is in contention; entitlements claimed by PFA in its Notice of Motion, now its amended Notice of Motion of 29 July 2008. 2 Hai Welyki comprises approximately 1293.15 hectares of radiata pine forest. There are small discrepancies in statements of areas but it seems that the smallest lot is Lot 1, 205.20 hectares, Lots 7, 8, 9 and 10 are a little larger up to 208.30 hectares and Lot 4 is 255.35 hectares. The potential harvest values of timber vary greatly. In an estimate obtained by the Trustees for Sale the potential harvest value of Lot 1 was $1,282,048.00, of Lot 9 $387,028.00; and the others had intermediate values. The potential harvest value of timber contributed much more to the sale prices achieved by the Trustees for Sale than the unimproved value of the land, which was much the same per hectare for each lot. 3 For some years from about 1980 onwards interests in these lots and the plantations on them were sold to persons (I refer to them as investors) by Pine Forests of Australia Pty Ltd (PFA) and, for some of the land apparently including Lot 10, by Pine Forests of Australia (Canberra) Pty Ltd (PFAC). The interests in Lot 1 sold were undivided 500th interests as tenants in common. Investors bought one 500th interest in Lot 1. Lot 4 was divided into 250th interests and Lot 7 into 500th interests, Lot 8 into 510th interests, Lot 9 into 510th interests and Lot 10 into 100th interests. Some investors bought more than one share in one or several lots. Investors paid for their purchases and in most cases they received certificates of title for their interests. It seems that not all the shares were sold and many remain in the ownership of PFA or PFAC. So for each lot there is a shapeless group of tenants in common and each owns a share in the whole of that lot. 4 The Trustees for Sale were directed by the Court on 4 May 2007 to take steps to call for claims to entitlement to participate in distribution of the proceeds of sale. They posted notices to the last known addresses of many persons for whom they had addresses, they placed significant information on their firm's website, first on 27 April 2007 and further information later, and they published advertisements in newspapers, the Government Gazette and the Australian on 8 May 2007 and the Sydney Morning Herald on 7 and 8 February 2008. They received many responses. By 25 June 2008 the Trustees for Sale had received claims from 229 investors but had been unable to locate and had received no responses from 127 investors, who had held 211 shares in various lots, approximately 30% of all shares owned by investors when sale was ordered and 8.9% of all shares. 5 In Pt 4 D 6 Statutory trusts of property held in co-ownership of the Conveyancing Act 1919 Co-ownership and co-owner have the meaning defined by s 66F(1) and extend to ownership whether at law or in equity. Co-ownership rights which are given effect under the statutory trust for sale may be established by the state of the Torrens register at the time when trustees were appointed, but are not necessarily limited to those as there may be ownership interests in equity which differ from the registered interests. 6 Investors typically entered into management agreements for their shares; typically terms of the agreements for sale of land required them to do so. In the cases of sales by PFA Mr Alexander, who is now the principal of PFA, has put in evidence what he says were standard clauses which, in brief terms, gave PFA management powers which were to exist until a general meeting of investors made other arrangements; and Mr Alexander contended that no such meeting had ever been held. He is not in a position to give evidence on this subject on which I should rely, as he had no knowledge of events or affairs of PFA or of investors until he began to interest himself in 2001. Some contracts referred to in evidence appointed companies other than PFA as managers, in more or less detailed terms. According to the management contracts the ordinary rights of land owners were abnegated and investors left the management of their land, timber and affairs to the management companies. The management contracts were not uniform in their terms. 7 There does not seem to have been any overall arrangement which addressed in a clear or practical way the needs for management endeavour and revenue which would exist continuously during the 25 years or more which would have to pass to bring the plantations to maturity. Perhaps the contemplation was that husbandry and thinnings would produce sufficient revenue to pay for management and outgoings such a rates. Perhaps the contemplation was that the investors would pay management fees and the managers would attend to the necessary outgoings. No clear arrangements overall appear. 8 There was a need for continuous and appropriately talented management endeavour, with appropriate commercial motivations, for about a quarter of a century; the arrangements made (whatever they were, and that does not clearly appear) did not meet this need. A commercial endeavour more certain to fail would be hard to imagine. One key point of failure was that management was fractionated and there was no mechanism for the interests of all co-owners to marshalled and brought to bear, and another was that there was no clear or effective mechanism for management to receive a reliable stream of revenue before the trees matured. An expectation that revenue would be maintained by several thousand unrelated proprietors sending in small fragments of the money required would have been certain to be disappointed. 9 PFA went through various vicissitudes. At one time it was in receivership. In 2001, when Mr Alexander required control of it, it had been in the hands of an entrepreneur named Mr Roman Korduba who, Mr Alexander asserts, died in or around 1999. His affairs, or his estate's affairs were in the hands of a Bankruptcy Trustee. PFA was in default on financing from National Australia Bank which held a fixed and floating charge over all its assets. Mr Alexander gained control, in measures completed in 2003, by arranging for the fixed and floating charge to be transferred by the bank to Strategic Resources (Aus) Pty Limited, a company controlled by Mr Alexander and his brother, and for the shares in PFA to be transferred by the Bankruptcy Trustee of the late Mr Korduba's estate to Kommodore Developments Pty Ltd, which was controlled by Mr Alexander and his brother. Mr Alexander got such information as he did about of the late Mr Korduba's estate and PFA's affairs from Mr Korduba's widow; she was not a director of PFA at the time of the handover, although Mr Alexander says that she had been at some time in the past. He received no significant records and in particular no books of account or financial statements; and it should be inferred that when Mr Alexander took over control PFA had not had such documents for some years; a practice which he has continued, so that PFA under his control still has no records of its financial dealings. 10 Ausforest Limited, the second defendant, is a company which had many other interests in the timber business, and appears to have acquired the interests of many individual investors; however details of the acquisitions do not appear and need not be investigated. Ausforest went into receivership and management under the control of Arrow Custodians Pty Ltd, the plaintiff, acting in the interest of N M Rothschild & Sons (Australia) Limited, which, directly or indirectly, had financed Ausforest. Arrow Custodians is the plaintiff, and Arrow Custodians and Ausforest represent the same interest for present purposes and had the same legal representation. PFAC took no active part in the present proceedings, except on one incidental matter which was resolved without judicial decision. Order 3 gives effect to this. 11 Mr Smith one of the Trustees for Sale gave evidence on affidavit narrating events in the trusteeship: the Trustees decided not to carry out harvesting activities, marketed the property and on 22 December 2006 sold it to Hume Forests Limited for $4.95m. The sale was completed and the proceeds now held amount to $4,549,050.73 (from which there will be further deductions for expenses since 1 July 2008). Mr Smith put forward calculations showing the Trustees' proposed distribution methodology, which involves allocating the moneys available among the lots according to valuations of the timber on each lot and also of the land. No adverse observations were made to me upon the Trustees' calculations and methodology and I regard them as appropriate. In their distribution methodology, if applied to the funds they now have in hand the amounts which would be distributed are, at the most:
Lot 1 - 500 shares - $2,705.78 each. Lot 4 - 250 shares - $3,930.38 each. Lot 7 - 500 shares - $1,620.37 each. Lot 8 - 510 shares - $964.22 each. Lot 9 - 510 shares - $800.99 each. Lot 10 - 100 shares - $5,031.25 each. 12 When this is applied to the interests of investors as they were according to the Torrens register on 19 April 2006 the results are: Former owner of shares in Land Value of shares Proportion of total proceeds Ausforest Limited (Receivers & Managers Appointed) (In Liq) $1,350,585.83 (%) 29.6 Pine Forests of Australia Pty Ltd $1,025,051.89 22.5 Pine Forests of Australia (Canberra) Pty Ltd (In Liq) $873,584.04 19.2 Located Investors $899,906.94 19.8 Unlocated Investors $399,921.75 8.8
13 The Trustees put before me for consideration their present intentions not to recognize three claims which have been made to them in correspondence. None of these claimants has applied to the Court in these proceedings or otherwise. PFA did not during the hearing before me make any submission relating to these claims. 14 Mr Stuart Henry, barrister of Adelaide, has put forward in correspondence the claim of Mrs Janetta Henry, who is his mother and is now 81 years of age, to be the equitable owner of four undivided 250th shares in Lot 4. In correspondence extending over many months Mr Stuart Henry put forward documents which show, in a fairly clear way, that Mrs Henry and her late husband William Nelson Henry agreed to buy a share as tenants in common from PFA by a contract in writing dated 23 June 1982. The contract provided for payment of the price of the land of $2400 by a deposit of $400 and payment of the balance of $2000 on completion which was to take place within 42 days. A Special Condition in Annexure A provided that sale was subject to the purchaser obtaining a loan for $2000, and other correspondence and documents produced by Mr Stuart Henry showed that that the loan was obtained, and that after several years it was repaid. 15 Condition 9 in Annexure A provided for the purchasers to execute a contract with United Tree Farmers Ltd to plant and grow trees; Mr Stuart Henry has produced documents which show that such a contract was entered into, also on 23 June 1982; and show later dealings under that contract. To a high probability, the balance of the purchase price was paid out of the proceeds of the loan within 42 days of 23 June 1982; or at some early stage. Whatever rights or obligations existed relating to management and the loan, the documents produced show that, as between Mr and Mrs Henry and PFA, the Henrys became the equitable owners of the land and entitled to transfer of title in 1982. Correspondence and other commercial documents at various times over many following years show that the Henrys were treated as if they were the owners of a share as tenants in common in Lot 4, although they never received a registered title. This correspondence comes not only from persons obviously closely associated with PFA, but also from other persons, including Ausforest, and strongly suggests that records of PFA existed in which the Henrys were treated as entitled to ownership. 16 Mr Stuart Henry has stated in correspondence that William Nelson Henry his father has died; but he does not give the date of that event. It is also stated that Mrs Janetta Henry is his sole residual beneficiary. If William Nelson Henry died before the application for appointment of Trustees for Sale his interest passed to Mrs Henry by survivorship; if he died afterwards she is entitled to his share as sole residuary beneficiary, subject to due administration of his estate. 17 Mr Stuart Henry speaks throughout of the contract as relating to four 250th shares of Lot 4. The copy of the contract which he has produced (Exhibit LAS9) does not bear this out as it is indistinct at the point which shows what share in Lot 4 was sold. Establishment that all the purchase price has been paid establishes entitlement of the purchasers in equity to specific performance, and their ownership in equity, falling within the definition of co-ownership. In my opinion it would be appropriate for the Trustees for Sale to admit Mrs Henry's claim, subject to these observations. 1. It must first be shown why it is contended that her interest relates to four 250th shares. Unless this is shown satisfactorily she should be treated as owning one 250th share in Lot 4.
c. Formulating a method for ascertaining and arriving at an assessment of the respective interests of each Co-Owner in the Land and formulating a method for the distribution of the Sale Proceeds to the Co-Owners which was passed on to the Trustees.
d. Formulating a submission to the Joint Trustees setting out the areas of Land harvested by Ausforest and the Ausforest Receiver and the effect his harvesting had on the value of the Land to the (other) Co-Owners.
e. Engaging in numerous discussions with the Joint Trustees and providing them with information concerning the pine forests act Hai Welyki which was necessary to enable them to properly carry out their duties as trustees of the Land (all Second Outcomes). 65 In his affidavit of 10 July 2008 Mr Alexander set out the acts and events which he put forward as constituting requests by the Trustees for the performance of his work. In summary they are these. About mid-April 2006 he was requested by Mr Teroxy to attend a meeting with the Trustees and told "We've got to organise a meeting with you and the Trustees. You should be introduced. They know nothing about the land at Hai Welyki and its history. You should fill them in". Then he was sent a letter which enclosed or consisted of a list of "issues for discussion with PPB" prepared by Mr Teroxy, who he understood was contracted to Arrow Custodians "for the purpose of realising its security over the land". Mr Teroxy's 18 items for discussion included "15. Zenon Alexander is the most intimately knowledgeable person re the plantation … if the Trustees wish to retain his expertise … a suitable remuneration will need to be negotiated … and agreeable to all the stakeholders". Then Mr Alexander had a meeting with the Trustees and Mr Adrian Parker who then worked for them on 27 April 2006 and told them what he considered it was necessary for them to do to discharge their functions properly, including telling them they needed to locate the names and addresses of all the co-owners: no great insight. He said that he had conducted preliminary investigations by speaking to Mr Dechnicz of RAD Consulting - "I conducted these investigations on the expectation that I would become the trustee … I am able to assist if you require my services. I can also give you the information that I have already located". Mr Parbery one of the Trustees said "I agree, we need to have the addresses of co-owners. We are leaving the day today carriage of the matter to Adrian Parker who will liaise with you." He had further communications and was asked by letter to provide what information or records he may have in his possession relating to investors; and over some months he did so. Significantly Mr Teroxy's item 15 did not lead to negotiation of remuneration for Mr Alexander, still less to agreement on remuneration. 66 Nothing in the circumstances constitutes grounds for an implied promise to pay PFA or Mr Alexander for assisting the Trustees. The circumstances could not be objectively understood as indicating that work PFA or Mr Alexander did would be done for the Trustees and they would have to pay for it. PFA could only be understood as pursuing its obvious interest in maximising realisation and distribution in which more than twenty per cent of all funds distributed would come to PFA. No express or implied contract, and no quasi-contract or restitutionary claim, has any basis in the facts. 67 Claim (f) is a claim for the cost of preparing a log of claims which Mr Alexander submitted in response to a request by the Trustees that he state what his claim was. $16,500 is alleged to represent the cost of Mr Alexander's time and attention in preparing the log of claims. There are no circumstances from which it could be concluded that the Trustees impliedly promised to pay PFA the cost of preparing PFA's claim. Generally, the proposition that, in the absence of some express arrangement, a person making a claim against a fund is entitled to be paid to do so has no justification. It could not be said that PFA as a claimant had any basis for understanding that it would be paid for making a claim. Receivers, Bankruptcy Trustees, Trustees for Sale and Trustees generally have many occasions to ask people why they make claims against them; the proposition that the persons who make claims are to be paid for doing so, in the absence of some explicit arrangement, is manifestly groundless. In the circumstances the fact that the log of claims submitted was so poor that it was later abandoned seems to lose some of its force; but the force of that fact is great. 68 For these reasons the Trustees should not pay any of PFA's claim and I will direct them not to do so. 69 Orders:
Upon the Notice of Motion filed on 12 October 2007 by Stephen James Parbery and Andrew Leslie Smith:
Order that the payment by Andrew Leslie Smith and Stephen James Parbery (together, Joint Trustees) of each of the amounts described in paragraphs 1(a), (b) and (c) be confirmed.
(a) $190,600.17 to Arrow/N M Rothschild & Sons (Australia) Limited in repayment of funding provided to the Joint Trustees; and
(b) $52,509.25 to Strategic Resources (Aus) Pty Limited in respect of amounts paid by it to the Rural Lands Protection Board and Oberon Council, after the date of the appointment of the Joint Trustees; and
(c) $3,963.00 to Strategic Resources (Aus) Pty Limited in respect of amounts paid by it to Tableland Surveyors, after the date of the appointment of the Joint Trustees.
Order that the Joint Trustees be at liberty to pay, in full and final settlement of any claim for legal costs arising out of the proceedings in which the Joint Trustees were appointed by Ausforest Limited (Receivers and Managers Appointed) (In Liquidation) and Pine Forests of Australia Pty Limited (PFA), the high range estimates by the Joint Trustees' costs consultant of the likely costs recoveries for those claims.
Order that the Joint Trustees be at liberty to pay, in full and final settlement of any claim by Pine Forests of Australia (Canberra) Pty Limited (In Liquidation) for legal costs arising out of the proceedings in which the Joint Trustees were appointed, the sum of $9,996.42 inclusive of GST (being one half of the sum of $19,992.84 claimed in the Bill of Costs admitted into evidence as Exhibit B).
Direct that the Trustees not pay any of the claims notified by Pine Forests of Australia Pty Limited, other than the claims confirmed by Order 1.
Orders that the Joint Trustees be at liberty to distribute the proceeds of sale of the Land according to the following relative value of each lot:
Lot 1 0.2752 Lot 4 0.2130 Lot 7 0.1753 Lot 8 0.1165 Lot 9 0.1012 Lot 10 0.1187
Direct that the Trustees proceed to consider and determine the claims of Henry Turpin and Dooley in accordance with the reasons published by the Court; with liberty to apply for further directions if the Trustees consider that there is any doubt or difficulty.
Direct that the Trustees proceed to distribute the net proceeds of sale after payment of costs and expenses in accordance with the distribution methodology stated in the evidence of Andrew Leslie Smith: but that they retain the part of the net proceeds attributable to the interests of unlocated investors.
Direct that the Trustees apply the part of the net proceeds attributable to the interests of unlocated investors to meeting such claims as may be established on or before 19 April 2010: and deal with any amount then unclaimed in accordance with the Unclaimed Money Act 1995: that in the meantime they take steps to advertise and otherwise make publicly available information about the possibility of claims and the names so far as known of unlocated investors: with liberty to apply for directions.
Upon the First Defendant's Amended Notice of Motion filed on 29 July 2008
9 Dismiss the Notice of Motion. **********
DISCLAIMER - Every effort has been made to comply with suppression orders or statutory provisions prohibiting publication that may apply to this judgment or decision. The onus remains on any person using material in the judgment or decision to ensure that the intended use of that material does not breach any such order or provision. Further enquiries may be directed to the Registry of the Court or Tribunal in which it was generated.
Arrow Custodians Pty Ltd
Pine Forests of Australia Pty Ltd
(1987) 164 CLR 137
(1994) 35 NSWLR 206
(1985) 160 CLR 583