In Paul David Wood & Anor v Timothy Darren Baker & Ors, the joint trustees in bankruptcy of the bankrupt's property successfully obtained injunctions freezing the assets and business of the respondents and restraining them from dealing with such assets and business. This case is an illustration of how the court may apply the "evasion principle", a principle identified in the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd, in piercing the corporate veil.
Background
On October 5, 2015, the chair of the Financial Stability Board, Mark Carney, wrote a letter to the G20 Financial Ministers and Central Bank Governors on the FSB’s progress on the financial reforms program.
Much time is spent by MLAs and Sponsors negotiating the list of unanimous lender decisions in a leveraged finance syndicated facilities agreement. The Sponsor will be concerned that its portfolio company should not find itself "held to ransom" on a waiver request by a dissenting minority lender. On the other hand, lenders require certain fundamental transaction terms to be entrenched so that key decisions cannot be taken without them. Commonly, changes which would increase the facilities, reduce the margin or extend the final repayment date will require the consent of all lenders.
Summary
On 14 October 2015, the Court of Appeal overturned a decision that two payments had been made in breach of a freezing order. The order prohibited the respondent to the freezing injunction application from dealing with or disposing of any of its assets other than in the ordinary and proper course of business. The Court held that the judge at first instance had taken too narrow a view in construing this exception and that, in light of the specific facts of the case, the freezing order had not been breached.
In a lecture delivered on 16 October, Lord Justice Jackson has argued the case in favour of bringing insolvency litigation into line with other types of civil litigation, where CFA success fees and ATE insurance premiums are no longer recoverable from losing opponents: see the 2015 Mustill lecture “The Civil Justice Reforms and Whether Insolvency Litigation Should Be Exempt”.
The suitability of the collective consultation regime under the Trade Union and Labour Relation (Consolidation) Act 1992 (“TULRCA”) in an insolvency scenario has always been a hot topic amongst insolvency professionals.
Help is at hand for insolvency practitioners (IPs) who need clarification on the Regulator’s views on scheme trustee appointments and statutory notices. The Pensions Regulator recently released a statement intended to assist IPs to understand these two areas which are of particular relevance to them.
TRUSTEES
The statement deals with scheme trustee appointments in four areas:
EAD Solicitors LLP and others v Abrams UKEAT/0054/15
Why care?
Section 13(1) of the Equality Act 2010 defines direct discrimination as occurring where “because of a protected characteristic”, a person (A) treats another (B) less favourably than A treats or would treat others. This wording means that B does not have to have the protected characteristic.
Three former directors of failed UK parcel delivery company City Link have recently been delivered the bad news that they will face criminal charges over redundancies made during the Christmas period last year. They have been charged with failure to notify the Secretary of State of the proposed redundancy of City Link’s employees as required under section 193 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. Notification is normally given to the Government by submitting an HR1 form to the Insolvency Service
In The Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs v Amran Munir and others [2015], the directors and secretary of a company were sentenced by the High Court to a term of imprisonment for contempt of court.
Summary