PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) v Saad Investments Company Limited (SICL) and Singularis Holdings Ltd (SHL)involved an application by PwC for the setting aside of orders made by the Supreme Court of Bermuda in favour of the liquidators that required the production of documents relating to SICL and SHL.  Included among the grounds on which PwC relied to set aside the order were that:

Bilta (UK) Limited (Bilta) and its liquidators brought a claim against the defendants for damages and equitable compensation on the basis of conspiracy to defraud and injure Bilta and for dishonest assistance by (among others) the 6th and 7th defendants in breach of fiduciary duties by Bilta's directors. The defendants argued that the unlawful conduct of Bilta's directors and sole shareholder could be attributed to the company itself, meaning that the action brought by Bilta and its liquidators would fail.

Re Tames involved an application for the Court to approve a debtor's proposal to creditors under section 333 of the Insolvency Act. The applicant was the provisional trustee for the proposal and sought the Court's approval of the proposal's terms. If the proposal was accepted, Ms Tames (the debtor) would only pay $0.05 on the dollar to her unsecured creditors. The application for approval was opposed by ASB, one of Ms Tames' unsecured creditors.

Further to our October 2011 update, the UK Supreme Court has released its decision in respect of the New Cap Reinsurance and Rubin appeals.

With facts described as "labyrinthine", Edgeworth Capital (Luxembourg) SARL v Maud [2020] EWHC 974 (Ch) is the latest judgment from Snowden J on efforts to bankrupt Mr Maud.     

Snowden J’s latest judgment deals with three issues:

In our December 2019 newsletter we commented that the Madoff bankruptcy had one more big case to go, chasing USD3.2b held by foreign banks.  The US Supreme Court has just refused to hear an application by major banks and companies, including Koch Industries Inc, to prevent Mr Picard, the bankruptcy trustee, from pursuing claims aimed at recouping funds that were transferred overseas.  In the meantime, Mr Madoff has been refused early

In Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy v PAG Asset Preservation Ltd [2019] EWHC 2890 the Secretary presented petitions under s 124A of the Insolvency Act 1986 to wind up two companies on public interest grounds. These companies were PAG Asset Preservation Limited and MB Vacant Property Solutions Limited (the Companies).

Another recent judgment in the Walker litigation concerns the validity of a litigation funding arrangement from SPF No. 10 Ltd (SPF). That arrangement is being used to fund proceedings that the liquidators of Property Ventures Ltd (in liquidation) (PVL) have brought against PwC and the directors of PVL. See our previous update on the related litigation.

An appeal by Christchurch property developer, David Henderson, against the High Court decision imposing conditions on his discharge from bankruptcy has been dismissed.

Last month the Insolvency Working Group released its second and final report, dealing with voidable transactions and Ponzi schemes.  The Group's first report was released in July 2016 and dealt with regulation of insolvency practitioners and voluntary liquidations.  In the second report, the Working Group make a number of recommendations on the voidable transaction regime and regarding protection from Ponzi schemes.  In relation to voidable transactions, the primary recommendations were repealing the "gave value" part of the defence available to creditors with a view to incre