New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Administrator liability for wages

Legal area

Court

4 Sept 2020

McELHINNEY and GRENFELL v WIRECARD NZ LTD [2020] NZHC 2312

Citation

[2020] NZHC 2312
Court

High Court

The court granted the requested extensions because the administrators demonstrated a genuine commercial need for additional time to complete an orderly going-concern sale involving multiple overseas bidders and parallel Australian proceedings, thereby justifying extensions of the convening period to 30 October 2020 and the statutory termination period to 6 November 2020 to avoid personal liability for wages; the court also directed that the watershed creditors' meeting may be conducted by video conference given overseas creditors and COVID-19 related practicalities, subject to measures ensuri…
24 Jul 2020

RE WIRECARD NZ LTD [2020] NZHC 1804

Citation

[2020] NZHC 1804
Court

High Court

The Court exercised its discretion to grant without‑notice relief and extended both the convening period under s239AT(3) to 5 October 2020 and the statutory termination period under s239Y(4) to 12 October 2020 for all employees because the administration was international and complex, a sale was being actively pursued which could preserve employment and creditor returns, and sufficient grounds existed under established fact‑specific principles balancing the interests of employees and the objectives of Part 15A; the Court declined to finally determine the legal question on lawfulness of termin…