The Irish High Court recently, for the first time, recognised and gave effect to a Swiss law insolvency and restructuring process that had been commenced in Switzerland in respect of a Swiss company.
The Revenue Commissioners have issued some recent welcome clarifications about certain provisions of the Government's temporary wage subsidy scheme.
Application for the Subsidy Scheme – An Admission of Insolvency?
The main provisions of the subsidy scheme are set out in Section 28 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020.
That section also contains the criteria for an employer's eligibility to avail of the subsidy scheme. One such criterion is that:
In the recent decision of Re M.D.Y. Construction Ltd [2018] IEHC 676 the Examiner sought to have proposals for a scheme of arrangement confirmed by the High Court pursuant to section 541 of the Companies Act 2014 (the "Act"). The most interesting feature of the case was that the scheme of arrangement was proposed for approval by the Interim Examiner before his appointment was confirmed by the High Court.
Arrangement to be approved the day after application to confirm appointment
In the matter of Mouldpro International Limited (In Liquidation) and in the matter of The Companies Acts 1963 – 2005 the Court of Appeal reduced the fees of the liquidator in respect of three of the four periods of the six-year liquidation of Mouldpro International Limited ("Mouldpro"), finding that the hours claimed for were "neither reasonable nor necessary".
Introduction
Examinership A number of significant decisions were made by the High Court and Court of Appeal relating to different aspects of the examinership process in 2017. |
The Court of Appeal recently ruled, in Re KH Kitty Hall Holdings & Ors, that an agreement to restructure and discharge the secured debts of a number of companies by selling certain secured assets was not a bar to the appointment of an examiner to those companies. This was the case despite the fact that the application for the appointment of an examiner was inconsistent with the obligations imposed on the companies under the restructuring agreement and was objected to by the secured creditor.
In Wingview Limited t/a Elphin Public House v Ennis Property Finance DAC the High Court granted an interlocutory injunction prohibiting the defendant from appointing a receiver over Elphin Public House, the Dublin pub which featured in the film "The Van" (1996).
The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court ruling from 2015 that a former director of a car dealership was personally liable to a customer who paid the company for three vehicles in the weeks prior to the company's liquidation where the cars were ultimately not delivered to the customer due to the company's liquidation.
Background
A recent decision of the Court of Appeal has seemingly halted a trend towards leniency in the High Court in applications for the restriction and disqualification of directors of insolvent companies, particularly where the company has been struck off the register of companies for failing to file annual returns.