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In bankruptcy as in federal jurisprudence generally, to characterize something with the near-epithet of “federal common law” virtually dooms it to rejection.

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After a period of significant inactivity as a result of the various temporary measures introduced during the pandemic, we are now approaching an insolvency cliff edge in the UK. In this video, senior restructuring and insolvency lawyers from TLT’s Scottish, Northern Irish and English offices discuss:

Additional conditions will be imposed on administrators seeking to dispose of a company’s business or assets to a party connected to the insolvent company within 8 weeks of their appointment, for administrations beginning on or after 25 June 2021.  Equivalent provisions have been in force in Great Britain since 30 April 2021.

Summary

Affected sales will be subject to either

(1) prior creditor approval or

(2) prior review by an independent evaluator.

In January 2020 we reported that, after the reconsideration suggested by two Supreme Court justices and revisions to account for the Supreme Court’s Merit Management decision,[1] the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit stood by its origina

It seems to be a common misunderstanding, even among lawyers who are not bankruptcy lawyers, that litigation in federal bankruptcy court consists largely or even exclusively of disputes about the avoidance of transactions as preferential or fraudulent, the allowance of claims and the confirmation of plans of reorganization. However, with a jurisdictional reach that encompasses “all civil proceedings . . .

I don’t know if Congress foresaw, when it enacted new Subchapter V of Chapter 11 of the Code[1] in the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (“SBRA”), that debtors in pending cases would seek to convert or redesignate their cases as Subchapter V cases when SBRA became effective on February 19, 2020, but it was foreseeable.

What is it and what has changed?

Wrongful trading is a term that has received quite a bit of press over the last few months, mainly through the headlines generated by the UK Government’s unprecedented amendment to the wrongful trading provisions contained within our insolvency legislation.

But what exactly is wrongful trading and what has changed?

Our February 26 post [1] reported on the first case dealing with the question whether a debtor in a pending Chapter 11 case may redesignate it as a case under Subchapter V, [2] the new subchapter of Chapter 11 adopted by the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (“SBRA”), which became effective on February 19.

This is inevitably a challenging time for many company directors throughout Northern Ireland and beyond. Businesses have been faced with a quite unprecedented set of social and economic circumstances due to the Covid-19 pandemic and now, as lockdown has eased and restrictions begin to be lifted, the focus turns to how those businesses that have been most severely impacted by this crisis will evolve. Directors are no doubt busy strategising how to best ensure their company’s immediate short term stability and in time their longer term growth and prosperity.

Our February 26 post entitled “SBRA Springs to Life”[1] reported on the first case known to me that dealt with the issue whether a debtor in a pending Chapter 11 case should be permitted to amend its petition to designate it as a case under Subchapter V,[2] the new subchapter of Chapter 11 adopted by