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Le 3 novembre 2022, un projet de loi visant à accorder une priorité supplémentaire aux régimes de retraite dans le cadre des procédures d'insolvabilité a franchi une autre étape vers son adoption.

On November 3, 2022, new legislation aimed at providing additional priority to pensions in insolvency proceedings moved one step closer to becoming law.

In a year quite unlike any other, the landscape of Canadian restructuring law saw significant developments in 2020. The COVID-19 crisis put novel issues before the courts, challenged businesses in unforeseen ways and saw various supports and concessions offered to struggling businesses from governments and creditors. Ultimately, while the supports and concessions enabled many businesses to avoid insolvency proceedings in 2020, many others sought the protection of an insolvency filing, with industries such as the retail industry particularly impacted.

Jamais dans l’histoire les entreprises de toutes tailles et de pratiquement toutes les industries n’ont affronté une crise résultant à la fois d’un tarissement des sources d’approvisionnement et de la demande de façon simultanée. La crise de liquidités qui en découle engendre une insécurité omniprésente au sein des gestionnaires des entreprises et de l’ensemble des parties intéressées de celles-ci, incluant leurs employés, actionnaires, clients, fournisseurs, créanciers et les communautés dans lesquelles les entreprises opèrent.

Never before in history have businesses of all sizes and of all or almost all industries faced a crisis resulting from a simultaneous decline of supply and demand. The resulting liquidity crisis is creating pervasive insecurity among the managers of businesses and the stakeholders of those businesses, including their employees, shareholders, customers, suppliers, creditors and the communities in which the businesses operate.

As governments impose restrictions on travel and more and more people are self-isolating and taking steps towards social distancing, the entire travel industry, the live entertainment industry and businesses with bricks and mortar presences, like restaurants and retail stores, expect to experience an immediate drop in revenue.

This week’s TGIF takes a look at the recent case of Mills Oakley (a partnership) v Asset HQ Australia Pty Ltd [2019] VSC 98, where the Supreme Court of Victoria found the statutory presumption of insolvency did not arise as there had not been effective service of a statutory demand due to a typographical error in the postal address.

What happened?

This week’s TGIF examines a decision of the Victorian Supreme Court which found that several proofs had been wrongly admitted or rejected, and had correct decisions been made, the company would not have been put into liquidation.

BACKGROUND

This week’s TGIF considers Re Broens Pty Limited (in liq) [2018] NSWSC 1747, in which a liquidator was held to be justified in making distributions to creditors in spite of several claims by employees for long service leave entitlements.

What happened?

On 19 December 2016, voluntary administrators were appointed to Broens Pty Limited (the Company). The Company supplied machinery & services to manufacturers in aerospace, rail, defence and mining industries.