Accountant, juice shop owner, investment scheme director and deregistered lawyer David John Dowd has worn a lot of hats, and now he’s a bankrupt wearing a hatload of debt.
Dowd, 53, has liabilities topping an eye-watering $34m, according to documents he lodged with the Australian Financial Security Authority.
The former head of former Brisbane legal firm Dowd & Co, now understood to be living on the Gold Coast, cited “excessive borrowing/credit”, “business failure” and “legal action or potential legal action” for his insolvency.
And boy, was there legal action. Court records reveal he and his companies have been defendants in multiple debt claims – including one from the tax office and a particular pearler from the Commonwealth Bank.
Dowd (illustrated) and two of his companies, Dowd Lawyers and Quad Civil Plant, were sued by CBA over $14.7m in loans in a case that started in October 2022.
CBA claimed finance given to the companies in 2019 and 2020 were personally guaranteed by Dowd to the tune of $13.68m.
In its claim lodged with the court, the bank alleged defaults began in September 2021 and by March 2023, CBA claimed it was owed $5.74m – plus interest that was swelling by $1218 a day.
Dowd made a counterclaim against the bank which he ultimately discontinued around the same time his bankruptcy docs suggest he “began suffering financial difficulty”.
Dowd Lawyers and another of his many former companies, Quad Civil Contracting, are now in voluntary liquidation owing more than $23.5 between them and little prospect of a return to creditors.
The website for Dowd’s most recent law firm, Dowd + Wilson, was still live this week, purporting to be “a premier litigation and transaction firm” which advertises “a genuine top-tier alternative to large law firms”.
City Beat’s messages to that site, and to Dowd’s LinkedIn profile – which still describes him as “managing partner of Dowd & Co” and a “director of several national companies” – have gone unanswered.
Dowd’s business interests have been many – he opened Liquefy Juice Co, which was touted at the time as “Australia’s first 24-hour health food cafe” in Brisbane in 2014.
The chain expanded to add as many as six outlets – including stores at Burleigh Heads and Cleveland – but they all suddenly closed in 2015, leaving many customers unsurprised if social media comments are anything to go by.
“Over priced, terrible product,” was the general vibe of posts still available online this week.
Dowd went onto become a director and lawyer for Nant Distillery, a Tasmanian whisky investment scheme that went bust owing millions and resulted in founder Keith Batt being charged with more than 700 criminal offences – to which he has pleaded not guilty.
City Beat is not suggesting any wrongdoing on Dowd’s part in that mess.
Broken Hartnett
Speaking of bankrupt ex-lawyers, remember the Gold Coast’s Beau Hartnett, who spurred the Australian Financial Security Authority to dust off legislation that hadn’t been used since it was written in 1966?
To put a years-long story into a sentence, Hartnett fudged a personal insolvency to avoid his debts and unsuccessfully took every available legal avenue to then avoid the consequences.
Last week one of his former companies – now directed by his wife Suzanne Weel – suffered another loss in court.
The company, Shandon International, went to QCAT to appeal a decision made by the state’s building regulator relating to its insurance of allegedly defective work done on an unspecified waterfront home on the Gold Coast.
QCAT Senior Member Joanne Brown denied the appeal.