With a history of failed businesses leaving creditors unpaid, Wendy Ann Sutherland was bankrupted by commercial landlord Samson Corporation for unpaid rent.
The High Court dismissed Ms Sutherland’s plea that bankruptcy should be averted because a new catering contract was expected to earn sufficient revenue to repay the debt. She provided no evidence that any contract existed and no evidence of her current financial position.
Courts are unwilling to postpone bankruptcy hearings on grounds of vague promises to clear current debts over time. Too often, this becomes a broken promise; the same broken promise patient creditors have been hearing for a long time.
Ms Sutherland was ordered in 2022 by the District Court to pay Samson some $66,000 in rent arrears. She subsequently agreed with Samson to pay this debt in weekly instalments of $550. Five months later, she stopped payments. Still owing was $56,000.
With Samson’s subsequent High Court application for her bankruptcy, Ms Sutherland turned up in court claiming to have been offered a cafeteria catering contract with Employers and Manufacturers Association. Profits from this contract will clear her Samson debt, she claimed.
Associate Judge Taylor adjudged her bankrupt. She provided no evidence of her ability to meet Samson’s unpaid debt, he said.
Given her past commercial history, with two failed businesses, it is in the public interest to bankrupt Ms Sutherland, he said.
She was a director of Marvel Grill North Wharf Co Ltd (an Auckland restaurant, going into liquidation insolvent in 2019) and Marque Hospitality Ltd (a business providing advice to the hospitality industry, wound up insolvent in 2023).
Samson Corporation Ltd v. Sutherland – High Court (4.03.25)
25.077