The Facts

The application relates to the estate of Jillian Mascall (the “Deceased”), which owned around 27 properties. The Deceased died on 4 December 2014 and it later became apparent the estate was insolvent.

The Court of Appeal has issued a welcome clarification of rules regulating the payment of dividends to shareholders in Global Corporate Ltd v Hale [2018] EWCA Civ 2618.

Facts

The case was appealed from the ruling of Judge Matthews in the High Court [2017] EWHC 2277 (Ch). At issue were several payments made by Powerstation UK Limited (the “Company”) to Mr Hale, who was a director and shareholder of the Company at the relevant times.

Se trata de un sumario y elocuentememo firmado por dos juristas de Kirkland & Ellis LLP, London, y publicado enInternational Corporate Rescue, vol. 15, issue 6, 2018, que resumo en lo que importa. Siempre suponiendo un hard Brexit. (1) Los tribunales de UK no reconocerán —salvo implementación por UK de la Ley Modelo de UNCITRAL— procedimientos de insolvencia extranjeros si afectan a titulares de créditos sometidos a Derecho inglés que disienten del acuerdo y no estuvieron presentes en el procedimiento extranjero.

2018 was the "year of the CVA", slashing rents and forcing landlords to get to grips with long-winded CVA proposal documents in an attempt to allow struggling tenants to manage their debts, turn around their businesses and avoid terminal insolvency situations.

The unfortunate reality is that even if they are approved by landlords and other creditors, not all these CVAs will be successful and many tenants are likely to end up in administration.

The Government will consult on new laws to give consumers greater protection on retailer insolvency, but has confirmed that consumer prepayments will not be given preferential status in insolvency.

This was announced on 27 December 2018 in the Government's Response to the Law Commission's July 2016 Report on Consumer Prepayments on Retailer Insolvency.

The Law Commission's Report

The Law Commission's Report recommended that:

This is the third occasion on which I have posted on this blog on the issue of after the event insurance (ATE) policies and the impact which they have on applications for security for costs.

In the first post on 16 November 2017, I praised the judgment of Snowden J in Premier Motorauctions v Pricewaterhouse Coopers for appearing to bring clarity to an area which had for some time struggled with near irreconcilable decisions.

Freezing Injunctions

Creditor not obliged to take steps in foreign proceedings to preserve security

This article was first published on Lexis®PSL on 15 November 2018.

Crumpler and another (Joint liquidators of Peak Hotels and Resorts Ltd in liquidation) v Candey Ltd, [2018] EWCA Civ 2256, [2018] All ER (D) 78 (Oct).

What are the practical implications of this case for practitioners?

A High Court Master has found that the court must maintain privilege in the documents of a dissolved company unless and until there is no prospect of the company being restored to the register: Addlesee v Dentons Europe LLP: [2018] EWHC 3010 (Ch).