INTRODUCTION
The Royal Court of Guernsey has taken the welcome step of dedicating specific court time to company and insolvency matters.
THE PRACTICE DIRECTION
The "running account" defence to an unfair preference claim is a fragile flower. In a recent decision, the Queensland Court of Appeal has reminded solvent counterparties that suspension of a customer's trading account will probably break the "running account", exposing a solvent counterparty to greater unfair preference risk.
Need to know
A recent decision of the NSW Court of Appeal demonstrates the importance for security trustees tocarefully consider and understand their obligations in an enforcement scenario.
Need to know
The Royal Court of Guernsey has issued a Practice Direction pertaining to the information required when applying for the appointment of an administrator or liquidator in Guernsey.
The Practice Direction
The reform agenda for Australia's restructuring and insolvency regime has now received the views of the Productivity Commission, in the context of its wider review of Business Set-Up, Transfer and Closure. A draft report published on 21 May 2015 sets out a number of recommendations that, while mostly not new to the reform agenda, will be relevant to restructuring and insolvency professionals in the not-too-distant future.
This article focuses on the judgments delivered in June and October 2014 by the Guernsey Court of Appeal in the long-running Tchenguiz litigation [Investec Trust (Guernsey) Limited and Another v Glenalla Properties Limited and Others]. The litigation concerned the liabilities of a trustee to creditors in circumstances where the creditor claims far outweighed the value of the trust fund.
Need to know
In a first for the US and Australian markets, the Buccaneer Energy group of companies successfully had bankruptcy plans approved by the US Bankruptcy Court for both US and Australian incorporated debtor companies.
"Once in a generation" review
Shortly before the Christmas break, the much anticipated review of the United States "Chapter 11 bankruptcy" regime was published by the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI). This is one of very few such major "root and branch" reviews of Chapter 11 since its enactment in 1978, and the first since the 1990s.
On 25 July 2014 and 17 September 2014 respectively, Justice Brereton of the Supreme Court of NSW delivered two related judgments in Re AAA Financial Intelligence Ltd (in liquidation) andRe AAA Financial Intelligence Ltd (in liquidation) (No 2). The decisions deal with the evergreen topic of Liquidator remuneration and expenses.
Importantly, in fixing the Liquidators' remuneration, Justice Brereton adopted a "value" focussed approach, and discussed the relevance of considering matters beyond simply time spent multiplied by fixed hourly rates.