APPLICABLE PRINCIPLES
17 It is well settled that the onus is on the liquidator to establish that the remuneration claimed is reasonable and that it is the function of the Court to determine the remuneration by considering the material provided and bringing an independent mind to bear on the relevant issues: Sanderson v Sakr (2017) 93 NSWLR 459 (at [54]), citing Venetian Nominees Pty Ltd v Conlan (1998) 20 WAR 96; Conlan (as liquidator of Rowena Nominees Pty Ltd) v Adams (2008) 65 ACSR 521 (at [28]-[29]).
18 Although Venetian Nominees and Conlan related to the legislation as it stood prior to the 2007 amendments, the principles referred to in those cases remain applicable. Further, it will be expected that the liquidator in supplying material to enable the Court to assess whether a remuneration claim was reasonable, would supply material by reference to the matters referred to in s 473(10) of the CA: Sakr per Bathurst CJ (at [54]).
19 In Venetian Nominees, the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (Kennedy, Ipp and Wallwork JJ) set out the general principles applicable to the Court's assessment of a liquidator's remuneration. Those principles were summarised in the later Court of Appeal (McLure JA, Buss JA, Newnes AJA) decision in Conlan (at [28]) and cited by Davies J in Thackray v Gunns Plantations Ltd (2011) 85 ACSR 144 (at [60]) as follows:
(a) A summary procedure is involved, not unlike that applicable to the taxation of solicitors' costs, which is not necessarily subject to all the rules that would apply in an action.
(b) The initial task of the court is to consider whether the liquidator has made out a prima facie case on the evidence before the court that the remuneration claimed is fair and reasonable. The Court must make that assessment "bringing an independent mind to bear on the relevant issues" even though at that point there is no objector.
(c) There is no absolute rule regarding the amount of detail required to support a remuneration claim. But the evidence relied on should be sufficient to enable potential objectors to review the amounts claimed and ascertain whether there are matters to which objection should be taken. If there is inadequate evidence supporting the claim, no order should be made.
(d) If the liquidator establishes a prima facie case, the court should allow for an objection procedure to enable objections to be made.
(e) If there are objectors to the claim or any part, the court should then establish the validity of those objections.
20 The meaning of a 'prima facie' case on the evidence before the Court, in this context, was explained as follows by McLure JA in Conlan (at [31]):
The expression "prima facie" is used in Venetian Nominees to mean that the claimant's evidence is sufficient to enable the court to determine whether the claimed remuneration is fair and reasonable. So, for example, there must be evidence relating to the work done by particular persons, how long it took to do the work, their hourly rate and the reasonableness of the rate.
21 Thackray concerned an application by the receivers and managers of Great Southern Managers Australia Limited (receivers and managers appointed) (in liquidation), which was the responsible entity of 45 managed investment schemes at the time of their appointment, to establish their entitlement to be indemnified out of the scheme property of ten of those managed investment schemes, secured by equitable lien upon the lienable property, for their remuneration for work performed and expenses reasonably incurred in taking steps for the care, protection, preservation and realisation of the assets and property of those ten schemes.
22 In Thackray, Davies J (then in the Supreme Court of Victoria) noted that the receivers argued that the standard of proof on their application could not be higher (and, if anything, was lower) than the standard on insolvency practitioners for the purposes of s 473(3) of the CA, which is to establish that the remuneration claimed is fair and reasonable. However, her Honour went on to note (at [63]-[64]):
[63] … Nevertheless, the receivers accepted that the principles set out Venetian Nominees Pty Ltd v Conlan are persuasive and that they should put sufficient evidence before the court to enable the court to determine that the amounts claimed are fair and reasonable. That involved providing sufficient detail of the work that was done and the expenses claimed for the court to assess the reasonableness of the remuneration claimed for that work and the reasonableness of the expenses incurred by the receivers. The reasonableness of remuneration may be adduced by evidence for example of an appropriate benchmark, such as the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Australia rates, for comparative work by persons with the relevant status and qualifications for that kind of work and justification of the hours spent. That amount can then be adjusted up or down to reflect other factors including:
(a) complexity above the norm for the kind of work involved;
(b) novelty and difficulty of the issues faced;
(c) the ultimate outcome obtained by the claimant.
[64] The court is looking for evidence of overcharging. Excessive charging may be indicated if there is a lack of proportionality between the cost of the work done relative to the value of the services provided. But there is no universal approach applicable in all circumstances by which the "reasonableness" of remuneration claimed or expenses incurred should be measured. The size, importance and complexity of the tasks performed are all factors to be taken into account. What is needed is sufficient information for the court and any objector to have a clear view about what was done so that an assessment can be made about the reasonableness of the claim.
(Citations omitted.)
23 The function of the Court was summarised by Jackson J in Park (at [63]) as follows:
Accordingly, the function of the court in determining the remuneration of the first applicants as liquidators is informed by the statutory criterion of reasonableness having regard to the list of relevant considerations to be taken into account.
24 The judgment in Park also contains the following observations, including a convenient summary of the decision of the Court of Appeal of the New South Wales Supreme Court in Sakr (at [160]-[164]):
[160] Both parties accept that the determination of remuneration does not require a line by line analysis of the kind that sometimes occurs in the assessment of legal costs. It is also common ground that the application falls to be determined by a summary procedure in which the rules of evidence are not strictly observed.
[161] The leading recent case on remuneration (decided after the argument in the present case) is Sanderson as liquidator of Sakr Nominees Pty Ltd (in liq) v Sakr. The NSW Court of Appeal, constituted by a bench of five Judges, heard a liquidator's appeal from a decision where the primary Judge had reduced the liquidator's remuneration calculated on time-based charging, on the ground of proportionality, to a much lesser "ad valorem" amount.
[162] The court held that in fixing a liquidator's remuneration the critical question is the determination of a reasonable remuneration having regard to the factors identified (in that case) under s 473(10) of the CA. In doing so, the court may fix remuneration on the basis of any method of calculation and, depending on the work done, a time-based calculation may or may not be appropriate. In determining reasonableness, the court should consider whether the work done is proportionate to the size of the insolvent estate, the benefit to be obtained from the work and the difficulty and importance of the tasks. Importantly, that work does not augment the funds available for distribution does not mean that a liquidator is not entitle [sic] to remuneration for it.
[163] As appears from the summary I have set out previously, the extent of the description and necessity of the task performed in the course of the administration and the liquidation is brief. Nevertheless, in determining remuneration it is not the function of the court to hypercritically assess the day by day activities or tasks carried out in the course of a complex administration over a lengthy period of time with the benefit of hindsight. In this context, it is sometimes remarked that the remuneration available to insolvency practitioners should be sufficient to encourage them to carry out the important public function of the administration of insolvent entities for the benefit of the creditors, investors (whether company members or fund members) and the public administration of the insolvency laws in general.
[164] As well, the preparation of detailed affidavit material setting out extensive support for the correlation of individual or groups of line items and charges to particular tasks and functions of sufficient utility to be classed as reasonable remuneration is itself a time consuming and expensive exercise. In the usual course, those costs must be added to the costs of the application for remuneration to be paid to the relevant administrators or liquidators.
(Citations omitted.)
25 As mentioned above, s 504(1) of the CA gives the Court power, on the application of the liquidator at any time before the deregistration of the company, to review and increase the remuneration, which in this case was fixed by the creditors of the company at the meeting on 7 September 2007: see Re Westnet WA Infrastructure Holdings Limited (2015) 106 ACSR 583 (at [24(2)]).
26 Pursuant to s 504(2) of the CA, in exercising its powers under s 504(1), the Court must have regard to whether that remuneration is reasonable, taking into account 'any or all' of the matters referred to in the subsection to s 504(2) of the CA, including 'any other relevant matter'.
27 Section 504(2) of the CA provides for the same matters to be taken into account as those referred to in s 473(10) (which applies to review of remuneration of a liquidator in the case of winding up by the Court) and the same principles are to be applied in fixing remuneration under each provision: Sakr (at [12]), citing Templeton v Australian Securities and Investments Commission (2015) 108 ACSR 545 (at [28]).