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The Court of Appeal has provided much needed clarification of the test for validating certain transactions by companies that are subject to a winding-up petition, pursuant to Section 99 of the Companies Law (2020 Revision).

The Cayman Islands Court of Appeal has provided much needed clarification of the test for validating certain transactions by companies that are subject to a winding up petition, pursuant to section 99 of the Companies Law (2020 Revision) (the "Companies Law").

The Legal Issue of Principle

Domestic Procedures

What are the principal insolvency procedures for companies in your jurisdiction?

Liquidation: voluntary and official.

Cayman does not have an equivalent to the English concept of the company administration or to the Chapter 11 process in the United States.

Schemes of Arrangement/“Soft Touch Liquidations” allow the company to enter into an agreement with its shareholders and/or creditors.

On October 10, 2019, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio (OHSB) entered General Order 30-2 implementing Complex Chapter 11 procedures. Under General Order 30-2, a case is eligible to be a complex case if (1) it is filed under Chapter 11 of the Code; (2) it is not filed by an individual debtor, as a single asset real estate case, or as a small business case as defined in § 101(51C) of the Code; and (3) the debt of the debtor or the aggregate debt of all affiliated debtors is at least $10 million or it involves a debtor with publicly traded debt or equity.

The Sixth Circuit recently held that Baker Botts, L.L.P. v. ASARCO, L.L.C., 135 S. Ct. 2158 (2015) does not apply to contempt sanctions. Baker Botts stands for the proposition that the general American Rule (i.e., each party is responsible for paying its own attorneys’ fees) applies in the normal course of bankruptcy proceedings, preventing courts from awarding attorneys’ fees incurred for defending fee applications filed pursuant to section 330 of the Bankruptcy Code.

If your bank is in the process of a merger or has agreed to buy or sell a portfolio of mortgage loans, notices must be provided to the borrowers before and after the transaction closes. Care must be taken to determine the notices required and how they are worded to avoid violating potentially conflicting laws.

The Bankruptcy Judges and Chapter 13 Trustees for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio have reviewed and approved a proposed District Wide Mandatory Form Chapter 13 Plan and proposed form Order Confirming Chapter 13 Plan and Awarding Attorney Fees. Currently, the Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus Bankruptcy Courts use different Chapter 13 form plans. The use of these different form plans makes it difficult for practitioners and creditors to keep track of the particular requirements for each court location.

As part of a modernization project that was begun by the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules in 2008, most of the Official Bankruptcy Forms will be replaced with substantially revised, renumbered and reformatted versions, effective December 1, 2015 (New Forms). The New Forms were approved by the Judicial Conference on September 17, 2015.

New amendments to the Bankruptcy Rules became effective on December 1, 2011.  These amendments add new requirements and potentially harsh penalties for failure to comply.  An overview of those amendments follows.

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