Summary

Further to our update to the existing insolvency laws, whilst it appears from the recent government announcement that UK wrongful trading provisions may be retrospectively relaxed from 1 March for a three month period, directors should continue to have regard to their individual conduct, particularly given the increase of claims funded by the growing litigation funding market.

The UK Government has announced changes to the existing UK insolvency laws in order to ease pressure on companies and give them breathing space to trade through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hunt (as Liquidator of Systems Building Services Group Limited) v Michie and Others [2020] EWHC 54 (Ch)

On 21 January 2020 ICC Judge Barber handed down a decision which considered, in what is believed to be a first, the question of whether director’s duties survive the insolvency of a Company.

The good news is that public works construction projects for municipalities are projected to remain a major sector of construction activity for the foreseeable future. The not-so-good news is that municipal bankruptcy filings are on the rise, and they are likely to increase. The issues facing parties under contract with a municipality when it files for bankruptcy protection are playing out nationally in places like Stockton, California, and Detroit, Michigan.