Nathanael Kitingan

Nathanael acted for the owner of a CBD building facing a multi-million dollar claim in VCAT by a tenant for loss and damages, under a breach of its lease. Negotiation attempts over the course of a 3-year litigation failed and the parties headed into a long trial. With some sharp attention to detail and preparation, Nathanael and his team managed to knock out the tenant’s case on the first day of trial, showing the company suffering the alleged loss and damages was not the tenant and had no legal link to the lease to allow it claim anything. Nathanael’s client won the case and was awarded indemnity costs on the basis that the tenant had brought a vexatious and hopeless proceeding. This is very rare under the Retail Leases Act. Unsatisfied, the tenant appealed the decision to the Court of Appeal which again found in favour of Nathanael’s client.

Nathanael and his team acted for a company director, facing claims of insolvent trading, unreasonable director related actions and breaches of duties. The director’s husband had gone bankrupt and she was involved because the couple had mingled their personal and company finances. The client feared losing her house – her last remaining asset. The case was complicated, as a lack of record keeping was a the initial cause of the problem, making a defence even more difficult. Nathanael and his team were able to negotiate a settlement that avoided bankruptcy for the director and allowed her to keep her house.

Nathanael and team had to act quickly when a liquidator needed to freeze the assets of a company director and his wife. Documents had been forged by the company director, redirecting money paid by creditors into his and his wife’s personal accountants. Freezing orders were obtained before the company director was able to further dispense the assets, allowing for proceedings to be issued and a settlement to be negotiated, facilitating a dividend to the creditors.