The Court held that a liquidator may apply under s 466(2) of the Corporations Act for the Court to fix the amount of costs to be reimbursed to the applicant on a winding up, and that the Court may adopt the gross lump-sum approach under s 98(4)(c) of the Civil Procedure Act in doing so. The Court confirmed that costs of a substitution application under s 465B, and costs incurred after the winding up order to perfect it, can achieve s 556(1)(b) priority as costs 'in respect of' the winding up application, applying a broad construction of those words consistent with Morepine and Bidald. Applying a 'benign' but not uncritical approach, the Court fixed costs at $45,000 (approximately 10% discount from the $50,045.93 claimed) rather than the $9,000 proposed by the liquidator, finding the itemised bill was comprehensive and the rates reasonable.
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