Federal Court of Australia

Corporations matters (Listing of Corporations matters in Sydney) (2001/1)

Introduction

The Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), t he Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth) ("the new Acts") and associated legislation have been passed with a commencement date of 15 July 2001.

Under transitional provisions in the legislation, the Federal Court (Corporations) Rules 2000 apply to proceedings commenced on or after that date in the Federal Court under the new Acts.

On this basis, practitioners are informed that, until further notice, the following practices will be followed in the New South Wales District Registry of the Court.

Corporations Panel

There will be a Corporations Panel of Judges who will hear and determine proceedings under the new Acts ("the Panel").

Return date - "Corporations Day"

Save for urgent matters on other days of the week, matters arising under the new Acts will be returnable promptly before a Registrar every Friday ("the Corporations Day").

Every Corporations Day, at least one member of the Panel ("Corporations Day Judge") will sit to deal with the proceedings referred to below. It is envisaged that for the first six months after 15 July 2001 (or any later commencement date of the new Acts) the Corporations Day Judge will be one of a group of three members of the Panel who will organise a roster amongst themselves.

After that initial period, progressively other groups of three members of the Panel will assume the role of Corporations Day Judge for similar periods.

Hearing and allocation for hearing

The Registrar will deal with all appropriate matters within the Registrar's delegation.

Except for the matters identified in the last preceding paragraph and the next one, the Registrar will allocate matters to the dockets of Panel members on the usual random basis.

The Registrar will refer the following matters to the Corporations Day Judge:

(a) Applications under a provision of either of the Acts mentioned which are ex parte , or are uncontroversial, or will involve a short hearing;
(b) Matters the Registrar considers inappropriate for substantive allocation to Judges' dockets.

The Corporations Day Judge will deal with the matters specified in the preceding paragraph referred by the Registrar together with such matters as were referred to the Corporations Day Judge but not finalised in previous weeks.

Urgent interlocutory applications

On Mondays to Thursdays, if the ordinary rostered duty judge is a member of the Panel, urgent interlocutory applications may be made to that judge. If the ordinary rostered duty judge is not a member of the Panel, the Registry will locate an available Panel member to deal with the application.

On Fridays, urgent interlocutory applications will go before the Registrar in the first instance and be allocated by the Registrar to the Corporations Day Judge or the ordinary duty judge if that judge is a member of the Panel, according to their respective commitments and availability.

In all cases, once the urgent aspect has been dealt with, the matter will be referred to the Registrar for substantive random allocation forthwith to the docket of a Panel member in the usual way.

Bills of Costs in winding up matters

Order 62 in the Federal Court Rules applies in Federal Court matters including winding up matters. It is the intention of the Court to provide rules for a procedure for submission of a short form of bill of costs and disbursements in a winding up application as an alternative to taxation of a bill of under Order 62.

Affidavit of Debt

Among others, a "creditor" may apply to the Court for a company to be wound up in onsolvency. Under the "harmonised" rules governing proceedings udner the new Acts (including the Federal Court (Corporations) Rules 2000), there is no prescribed form of affidavit supporting a winding up application. Practitioners are reminded of the necessity of filing affidavit evidence establishing that the plaintiff is a creditor of the company, in cases where the plaintiff relies on that status.

Margaret Quinn
A/g District Registrar
11 July 2001