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:
A Sheriff at Glasgow Sheriff Court has recently published a judgment showing its approach regarding the role played by a court reporter in an application by a liquidator to seek approval of remuneration.
The note concerned the case of One Optical Limited (in liquidation) (the Company).
This judgment is useful for insolvency practitioners in setting out how a court (in this case Glasgow Sheriff Court) views the role of a court reporter when approving (or otherwise) the remuneration of a liquidator.
The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic will leave in its wake a significant increase in commercial chapter 11 filings. Many of these cases will feature extensive litigation involving breach of contract claims, business interruption insurance disputes, and common law causes of action based on novel interpretations of long-standing legal doctrines such as force majeure.
On 4 December 2019, the Supreme Court handed down its judgment in MacDonald and another (Respondents) v Carnbroe Estates Ltd (Appellant) (Scotland) [2019] UKSC 57. The appeal concerned the interpretation of ‘adequate consideration’ under section 242 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (the “Act”) and the remedies that courts can apply if there is a gratuitous alienation, and inadequate consideration paid for the transaction in question.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali recently ruled in the Chapter 11 case of Pacific Gas & Electric (“PG&E”) that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) has no jurisdiction to interfere with the ability of a bankrupt power utility company to reject power purchase agreements (“PPAs”).
The Supreme Court this week resolved a long-standing open issue regarding the treatment of trademark license rights in bankruptcy proceedings. The Court ruled in favor of Mission Products, a licensee under a trademark license agreement that had been rejected in the chapter 11 case of Tempnology, the debtor-licensor, determining that the rejection constituted a breach of the agreement but did not rescind it.
Few issues in bankruptcy create as much contention as disputes regarding the right of setoff. This was recently highlighted by a decision in the chapter 11 case of Orexigen Therapeutics in the District of Delaware.
On 31 October the Supreme Court handed down the judgment in the case of Dooneen Limited t/a McGuiness Associates v David Mond.
The judgment confirmed that a trustee is not entitled to property discovered after a trust deed has been terminated and the trustee discharged and therefore provides some much needed clarity for banks, debtors and trustees who face this situation.
The facts
A statutory waste removal obligation incurred by a company before it entered liquidation was held to be dischargeable as an expense of the liquidation (Re Doonin Plant Limited [2018] ScotCS CSOH 89).
The judicial power of the United States is vested in courts created under Article III of the Constitution. However, Congress created the current bankruptcy court system over 40 years ago pursuant to Article I of the Constitution rather than under Article III.