Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court, in Merit Management Group, LP v. FTI Consulting, Inc., Case No. 16-784, ruled that the “securities safe harbor” under section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. §§ 101-1532, does not shield transferees from liability simply because a particular transaction was routed through a financial intermediary—so-called “conduit transactions.”

The appointment of an administrator over the Connaught Group is expected any day. Many housing associations will have employed Connaught to carry out maintenance services under the JCT measured term contract or similar. These contracts contain specific provisions for the steps to follow if an administrator is appointed over the contractor (or some other form of insolvency).