Whether the respondents have no liability for costs on the basis that they have received litigation funding or an indemnity
41 The applicants' next submission is that the respondents may have received litigation funding, such that the respondents do not have any liability to pay costs themselves. The applicants point to a number of pieces of evidence which they submit demonstrate these matters.
42 A composition proposal was put by the second respondent to his creditors dated 11 February 2011 stating that:
Mio Art will, on the basis of Mio Art as principal litigant and prosecutor of interests, fund and facilitate the funding of the whole of the following matters required to pursue the interests of the estates viz:
...
• any other legal actions(s) necessary to enforce the rights associated with the Mango Hill broadacres joint venture agreements.
...
• any necessary further proceedings for the furtherance of the interests of all of Mio Art, Spencer and Perovich
....
Mio Art will fund and/or facilitate these means in toto in conjunction with a litigation funder...the estates and their creditors will have no liability nor be required to make any funding contribution towards the litigation or professional fees, success fees and costs at any time; same will be the responsibility of Mio Art at all times.
43 The third respondent also put a composition proposal dated 11 February 2011 to her creditors in similar terms, except that it contained the following sentence:
The estates and their creditors will not be required to provide any funding towards the litigation or professional fees, success fees and costs at any time; same will be the responsibility of Mio Art at all times.
44 It may be noted that the 2011 compositions proposals were superseded by new ones in 2015: see Mango Boulevard v Whitton Pty Ltd (2015) FCA 1295 at [9]. The terms of the new proposals are not relied on by the applicants in this application.
45 There is an affidavit sworn on 20 August 2014 by the respondents' solicitor, prepared in response to an application for security for costs in the arbitration. The affidavit responds to "various speculations concerning the firm of Delta Law and litigation funding" raised by the applicants. The solicitor deposes that a Mr Galea of Award Litigation Funding had decided not to fund the "Mango Hill litigation and arbitration". The solicitor also deposes that he had "discussed funding with a number of other possible prospects without success". The affidavit does not expressly define the "Mango Hill litigation", but refers to several pieces of litigation, including VID 1183/10. The solicitor's affidavit also exhibits a "Summary of Litigation Mango Hill Joint Venture", which was described as "a summary of the Mango Hill litigation surrounding the joint venture entered with the BMD Group in June 2003". That document specifically discusses VID 1183/10. It is apparent that the litigation for which the solicitor deposed that he had been unable to obtain funding included VID 1183/10.
46 A director of Mio Art wrote a letter to the first respondent dated 19 August 2014 stating that funding was being sourced by Mio Art for various litigation, including VID 1183/10.
47 On 6 November 2015, the respondents' solicitor deposed, in the context of the composition proposals, that the respondents "are obliged to rely on the efforts of third parties in order to arrange funding".
48 The applicants rely on the following evidence given by the applicants' solicitor before this Court on 10 November 2015 concerning Mr Galea and Award Litigation Funding:
Well, I met Mr Galea...all of the conversations that I've had with Mr Galea have involved the funding of this matter and all other matters involved with the - with my clients and Mango Boulevard.
…I've never had any reason to question him as he had provided funding previously.
I'm aware that there have been a number of parties who, at various stages, wanted to put money into this…but as to whether or not they specifically wanted to fund this, I'm not totally - I can't say…I was confident that Galea was coming up with the money because of my dealings with him previously.
49 These extracts of evidence must be placed in their proper context. The application before the Court was for an abridgment of time for the provision by the trustee in bankruptcy of material in relation to the proposed compositions to the creditors of the bankrupt estates: see Mango Boulevard Pty Ltd v Whitton [2015] FCA 1295 at [9]-[13], [34]-[36]. The abridgment was required because the bankrupts were late in paying $55,000 as a surety for the trustee's costs of calling and holding the creditors meeting. Mr Galea of Award Litigation Funding had sourced funding for the surety, but there was a delay in the funds arriving. The solicitor's evidence was concerned with that delay. In context, and having regard to the transcript as a whole, the solicitor was discussing funding of the surety, and was not referring to funding of legal fees in VID 1183/10.
50 On 28 January 2016, in proceedings QUD 1088/15 in this Court, the respondents' solicitor deposed that "the funders of Mio Art, Spencer and Perovich have, on the strength of the compositions, continued to work on the Mango Hill litigation". That affidavit confirms that Award Litigation Funding had provided funding for the trustee's surety and had sourced funding for the compositions themselves, although there had been delay in the provision of the funds for the compositions. Again, it does not refer to funding of the legal fees in VID 1183/10.
51 In order to obtain the final relief they seek, it will be necessary for the applicants to prove that under no circumstances do the respondents have any liability to pay legal fees in VID 1183/10 on the basis that Mio Art, Award Litigation Funding or another funder, assumed liability for payment of those fees. For the purposes of the interlocutory application, the question is whether the evidence demonstrates the likelihood of those matters. It would be enough for the applicants to demonstrate that there is evidence showing the likelihood that a third party had paid the respondents' legal costs (or even a part of their legal costs). That was the approach taken in Abbott, where there was evidence that a third party had paid the legal costs. It may also be enough to demonstrate the likelihood that a third party agreed to pay the legal costs or part of them.
52 The evidence demonstrates that the respondents sought funding from third parties for their legal costs for proceedings VID1183/10 in at least 2014. It indicates that the respondents' composition proposals were put in 2011 on the basis that the bankrupt estates of the respondents would have no liability to make any funding contribution towards the professional fees for related litigation, such fees to be the responsibility of Mio Art. Further, the respondents later obtained funding for the trustee's surety and an agreement for the funding of the compositions themselves.
53 Against these matters is the direct evidence from the respondents' solicitor that no litigation funding had been obtained for VID 1183/10 by 20 June 2014. Although litigation funding continued to be sought after that date, there is no evidence that any was obtained. The 2011 composition proposals were superseded by new proposals in 2015, and the applicants have not relied on those new proposals (and, in addition, while the 2011 proposals indicate that the bankrupts' estates would not be liable for legal costs, they do not indicate that the bankrupts themselves would not be liable). I cannot conclude that because funding was obtained for the trustee's surety and the compositions, it is likely that funding was also obtained for the legal fees in VID 1183/10.
54 In my opinion, the evidence does not demonstrate the likelihood, in the sense of being on the cards, that Award Litigation Funding, Mio Art, or another funder provided or agreed to provide funding for the respondents' legal fees in VID 1183/10. Further, the evidence does not demonstrate the likelihood that any third party assumed liability for the payment of the respondents' legal fees in VID 1183/10, such that the respondents would in no circumstances be liable for those fees, or some part of those fees. Therefore, there is no basis for orders that the respondent provide affidavits concerning, or disclose any funding agreements with, any third parties.