Following are our summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of May 22, 2023.

On 16 May 2023, Mr Justice Adam Johnson in the High Court refused to sanction the restructuring plan proposed by The Great Annual Savings Company Limited (GAS) following objections from HMRC.

The UK’s latest quarterly insolvency statistics have been published and, as predicted, continue to show a high rate of insolvencies, both in relation to pre-pandemic numbers and by comparison to last year’s Q1 results. The Q1 2023 statistics show a 18% increase in the overall number of registered company insolvencies from Q1 2022 and a 4% decrease from Q4 2022, with a total of 5,747 company insolvencies (seasonally adjusted) during this past quarter.

Following are our summaries of the civil decisions of the Ontario Court of Appeal for the week of April 24, 2023.

Following are this week’s summaries of the civil decisions of Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of March 27 to 31, 2023. There were only two substantive decisions. One was a commercial leasing matter, and the other was a receivership matter.

Table of Contents

Civil Decisions

Jagtoo & Jagtoo, Professional Corporation v. Grandfield Homes Holdings Limited, 2023 ONCA 214

At the end of February 2023, the High Court sanctioned seven restructuring plans for companies in the Lifeways group. Lifeways is a group providing supported living and specialist residential, support and care services at properties throughout the UK.

The case raised several interesting aspects, particularly in relation to the conduct of creditor meetings for a restructuring plan where cross class cram down is sought, and whether there is a read across from scheme case law on this issue.

Following are this week’s summaries of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of November 14, 2022.

Summary

The Supreme Court held that when directors know, or ought to know, that the company is insolvent or bordering on insolvency, or that an insolvent liquidation or administration is probable, they must consider the interests of creditors, balancing them against the interests of shareholders where they may conflict. The greater the company’s financial difficulties, the more the directors should prioritise the interests of creditors.

Background

Good evening.

Following are this week’s summaries of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of September 26, 2022.

Good afternoon.

Following are this week’s summaries of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of September 12, 2022.

In Optiva Inc. v. Tbaytel, the Court dismissed the appeal from an arbitrator’s decision granting summary judgment. The arbitrator had the authority to proceed by summary judgment motion, as the arbitration agreement gave the arbitrator broad powers to determine the procedure to be employed.