The English High Court were persuaded to lift the automatic stay imposed under the Cross-Border Insolvency Regulations (SI 2006/1030) in relation to Korean proceedings, to allow English litigation proceedings to be continued by an unsecured creditor.
The Supreme Court of the United States has decided it will review the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Johnson v. Midland Funding LLC.
A link to the docket is available here: Link to Docket.
Pacific Exploration & Production Corporation ("the Company"), a Canadian public company who explore and produce natural gas and crude oil with operations focused in Latin America. In April 2016, the Company obtained an initial order from the Ontario Superior Court for protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act for the restructuring of the Company.
In a split decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently held that “filing a proof of claim in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy based on a debt that is time-barred does not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act when the statute of limitations does not extinguish the debt.”
The Australian Court of Appeal refused an appeal against a winding up order made in relation to Legend in Australia where Chapter 11 proceedings were on foot in the United States.
Legend International Holdings Inc ("Legend"), registered in Delaware in the United States, were unsuccessful in defending a claim brought by the IFF which resulted in an award of $12.35 million plus interest. As payment was not received, the IFF filed a Winding Up Petition against Legend in Australia.
On July 10, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued its opinion in Crawford v. LVNV Funding, LLC. That opinion began by decrying the “deluge” of proofs of claim filed by debt buyers on debts that are unenforceable under state statutes of limitations.
The English Court refused an application by Liquidators to stay English proceedings pending the outcome of similar proceedings in the US.
The Joint Liquidators of a Luxembourg company ("the Company") applied to stay English proceedings that they had brought against private equity investors ("the Defendants") until similar proceedings in the US had been resolved, or for three months to enable the Liquidators to raise finance for the litigation.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently held that “[a]n accurate and complete proof of claim on a time-barred debt is not false, deceptive, misleading, unfair, or unconscionable under the FDCPA.”
In arriving at this holding, the Court declined to follow the Eleventh Circuit’s rulings in Crawford and Johnson.
A copy of the opinion is available at: Link to Opinion.
On 23 June 2016, a 52% majority of the British people voted in favour of leaving the European Union. It is unclear the extent of the effect this will have, but restructuring and insolvency professionals face an uncertain future if the EC Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings 2000 and the Recast Insolvency Regulation, which replaces it in 2017, cease to apply to cross border restructurings in the UK.
Short stories
Amendments to the Czech Insolvency Act 2016