Inactive director liable for company’s losses

The New South Wales Court of Appeal has upheld orders holding two directors liable for losses suffered by their insolvent cosmetics company after it incurred substantial liabilities for renovations to their family home and transferred almost $1 million offshore shortly before liquidation. In Kim v JM World AU Pty Ltd (in liq); Bak v JM World AU Pty Ltd (in liq), the Court dismissed appeals by Yeong Jeen Bak and Eun Hee Kim from findings that they breached their duties as directors of JM World AU Pty Ltd, a wholesale cosmetics distributor wound up in June 2021. President Ward and Justice Black formed the majority, while Justice Leeming dissented on whether Kim’s inactivity caused the company’s losses and whether the family home…