To anyone practicing bankruptcy law more than a month, the scenario of a lender secured by a lien against real property, as well as an assignment of rents (“AOR”) is pretty standard fare. Default on the debt occurs, threats (and counter threats) are tossed about, notices of foreclosure are filed (and perhaps receivership proceedings were begun), and the borrower files the inevitable bankruptcy proceeding where all is stayed to be dealt with under the watchful eye of the bankruptcy court.

Of general interest is the appeal in the case of Horton v Henry, on which we reported in our January 2015 update. In Horton, the High Court declined to follow a previous ruling, and decided that a bankrupt could not be compelled to access his pension savings to pay off creditors.

Declining to follow a 2012 decision, the High Court has ruled that a bankrupt’s unexercised rights to draw his pension did not represent income to which he was entitled within the meaning of the Insolvency Act 1986, and so did not form part of the bankruptcy estate.

Background

Again, of interest to all schemes providing defined benefits is the recent settlement in the litigation involving the Lehman Brothers Scheme, where the payment of £184 million, representing costs of the buying-out benefits, has been agreed.

Following a detailed investigation by TPR commencing in 2008, and a legal battle through the hierarchy of courts up to the Supreme Court (SC), members of the Lehman Brothers Pension Scheme will receive their full benefits after a settlement was reached on 18 August 2014.

Pension issues in the American Airlines (AMR) bankruptcy¹ have resulted in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issuing new final regulations, effective November 8, 2012 (Final Regulations), which broadly impact all debtors facing underfunded pension plan obligations. The Final Regulations provide chapter 11 bankruptcy debtors facing distress terminations of their tax-qualified defined benefit pension plans with the additional option of amending the plans to eliminate accelerated payment options.

The US Supreme Court has ruled in Stern v. Marshall (June 23, 2011) that a bankruptcy court lacks jurisdiction to render final judgment on a bankruptcy estate’s compulsory counterclaim against a creditor arising under common law, despite a statutory grant of jurisdiction.

In the case of In the matter of Construction Confederation and In the matter of the Insolvency Act 1986 [2009] EWHC 3551 (Ch), the trustees of the Construction Confederation Staff Pension Scheme have obtained an order for winding up of the sponsoring employer, an unincorporated association.

On 9 November, the PPF published proposals for the 2011/12 pension protection levy year which aim to improve the way the insolvency risk for sponsoring employers is assessed. The proposals reflect industry feedback and a review of methodology and insolvency probabilities carried out by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B).

The key changes include: