Fourth-time personal bankruptcies come along so rarely that they deserve special recognition. The Supreme Court of British Columbia was recently presented with one such instance when Mr. Thomas Boivin ("Boivin") applied for a discharge from his fourth bankruptcy.

Over the course of about thirty years, Boivin's use of credit left creditors with total debts of approximately $834,000.

While rarely done, section 197(3) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act ( “BIA”) authorizes a court to hold a bankruptcy trustee personally liable for the costs of its conduct. The principles underlying section 197(3) were recently reviewed and discussed by one of the leading authorities on Canadian bankruptcy law, Morawetz J., in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice case of Greenstreet Management where the Court used its statutory discretion to award costs personally against a trustee.

On June 5 2008 the Ontario Superior Court of Justice approved a plan concerning failed assetbacked commercial paper (ABCP). The restructuring called for in the plan can therefore proceed immediately, subject to any appeals from the court approval. This update is a brief survey of the key developments in the efforts to rescue the affected Canadian market for ABCP, which broke down in August 2007.

Breakdown of Market and the Montreal Accord

Although the global “credit crisis” phenomenon has been dominating the headlines for some time, the implications of it in Canada may just be beginning in the form of increased distressed M&A activity. The past decade of unprecedented growth and the abundance of liquidity has been replaced in the past few months by a more conservative lending environment. Around the country, bank loan officers are busy reviewing financial statements and covenant compliance certificates, and assessing loan renewals of corporate clientele.

Pursuant to an Order in Council dated July 4, 2008, July 7, 2008 was established as the date that certain of the provisions of S.C. 2005, c. 47 (the "Insolvency Reform Act 2005") and S.C. 2007, c. 36 (the "Insolvency Reform Act 2007") came into force. The Wage Earner Protection Program Act (the "WEPPA") as well as certain of the amendments to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (the "BIA") made by the Insolvency Reform Act 2005 and the Insolvency Reform Act 2007 are, as a result, now in force.

For the first time ever in Canada, super-priority rights have been given to employees which will take priority over existing secured creditors.

The relationship between Canada and the United States is one of the closest and most extensive in the world. With the equivalent of $1.6 billion in bilateral trade every day3, it is no surprise that a large number of US companies have subsidiary operations and assets located in Canada. Despite numerous socio-economic similarities between both countries and legal regimes both anchored in the tradition of common law, there are a number of legal differences that have the potential to significantly impact US companies doing business in Canada.

On July 7, 2008 specific provisions of the Insolvency Reform Act, 2005 and the Insolvency Reform Act, 2007 were proclaimed into force by Order in Council. As a result, the Wage Earner Protection Program Act (the “WEPPA”) and certain related amendments to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (“BIA”) have come into immediate effect.

Certain of those amendments are intended to protect current and former employees of insolvent companies and will affect lenders to insolvent businesses.

Typically, courts will only rarely and sparingly interfere with contractual rights that parties freely negotiate and agree upon.

However, in Protiva Biotherapeutics Inc. v. Inex Pharma­ceuticals Corp., the British Columbia Court of Appeal recently determined that the courts can adjust contractual rights in order to achieve a workable plan of arrangement proposed by a company under the British Columbia Business Corporations Act (the "Act").

The Ontario Court of Appeal recently held that Royal Bank of Canada ("RBC") was unperfected as against a trustee in bankruptcy (the "Trustee"), because RBC failed to comply with section 48(3) of the Personal Property Security Act (Ontario) (the "PPSA") by failing to file a financing change statement to reflect a change of the debtor’s name after assets of the debtor were sold by a court appointed interim receiver.