Following a long wait of 18 months, the Supreme Court has today confirmed that the appeal of the decision in BTI –v- Sequana is unanimously dismissed.

The key question that many of us have been waiting for the answer to is: Does the creditor duty set out in s172(3) of the Companies Act 2006 exist and if so, when is it engaged?

The Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) Scotland Act was passed by the Scottish Government on 28 June 2022 and enacted on 10 August 2022 (the "Act"). It makes two key changes to insolvency and diligence in Scotland.

Bankruptcy floor limit

Do landlords do get a good deal in CVAs? It would seem they do (if you don't read the small print…)

A few weeks ago we blogged that we were expecting RSM's research report, which was commissioned by the Insolvency Service, into the impact of CVAs on the landlords. The specific question in the research paper was: "are landlords equitably treated, compared to other creditors in large business CVAs?".

The perceived costs of proposing a restructuring plan are seen to be the biggest inhibitors to using the process for SMEs. It is still a relatively new tool and insolvency practitioners, lawyers and the courts are still grappling with it, but as we have seen recently in Amigo Loans it can provide creative and innovative restructuring solutions[1].

If you have fraudulently obtained Covid-19 financial support, such as a Bounce Back Loan, you must be pretty worried by recent headlines that show company directors being disqualified, fined and jailed.

There is a sense of "judgment fatigue" when it comes to decisions about the validity of an administrator's appointment or the extension of the administrator's time in office. However, the decision of Deputy ICC Judge Curl QC, in the case of Re E Realisations 2020 Limited, is worth paying attention to.

It was the poet John Lydgate who first said that you can please some of the people all of the time; you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.

What does the "Wagatha Christie" debacle and the restructuring tool known as a CVA have in common? Answer: ask anyone and they will tell you exactly what "team" they support. Either you are "team CVA" and to you a CVA is a very useful restructuring tool, which allows a company to reorganise its affairs in a comprehensive manner. Alternatively you are "team landlord" and a CVA is just a device which is being used tactically to shaft property stakeholders.

It would appear that the trend we reported in the rising numbers of Scottish corporate insolvencies is showing no let up.

It is often the case, that insolvency claims are pursued against former directors of the insolvent company or persons connected to them. It is also often the case, that such claims are assigned to a litigation funding company given lack of funds in the insolvent estate to pursue them. This is what happened in Lock v Stanley where various claims against the former directors, their parents and connected company were assigned to Manolete.