Privilege – post Hastie

The New South Wales Court of Appeal decision in Hastie Group (In Liq.) v Moore1 underlines the view that disclosure of the mere existence of privileged documents to third parties will not necessarily waive privilege.

Key Facts

The liquidators of Hastie Group Ltd (In Liq.) (Hastie) had obtained orders extending the time for service of a statement of claim alleging professional negligence against Hastie’s Auditor, Deloitte (Auditor), between 2008 and 2010.

This case arose from an underlying claim by a company called Mploy against Denso, which resulted in an adverse costs order against Mploy.

You will have previously seen a landlord's consent is usually required to enable a pharmacist to assign or sell their lease to a third party.

It is usual for the landlord's consent to be specified not to be unreasonably withheld or delayed.

On a lease assignment a landlord will want to ensure that the tenant is of sufficient financial strength to be able to comply with the lease covenants (including payment of the rent).

After the SAM HAWK decision in September 2016 restored the status quo in the recognition of foreign maritime liens in Australia (see our briefing http://www.hfw.com/Arrest-of-the-SAM-HAWK-October-2016) two Federal Court decisions in November 2016 bring the year towards a close with the Federal Court’s jurisdiction and application of the Admiralty Act being confirmed on established and predictable grounds.

In The Joint Provisional Liquidators of BJB Career Education Company Limited (In Provisional Liquidation) v Xu Zhendong¹, the Court of First Instance considered the Hong Kong courts' common law powers to recognise and assist foreign courts and insolvency practitioners overseeing non-Hong Kong insolvency proceedings.

The questions considered by the court were:

On 30 September 2016, the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) published its finding that two companies involved in the online retail of licensed sport and entertainment posters and frames had breached the Competition Act 1998 (“CA98”) by entering into agreements (or, at least, ‘concerted practices’) to artificially inflate the prices charged for certain products. A formal charge was accepted by the main protagonist, Trod Limited (in administration) (“Trod”) and fines imposed, which became payable by Trod’s administrators as of 13 October 2016.

Horton v Henry: Pensions clarified

We previously discussed the uncertainty surrounding the treatment of pensions in a bankruptcy which arose from two conflicting high court decisions: Raithatha v Williamson [2012] EWHC 909 (Ch) and Horton v Henry [2014] EWHC 4209 (Ch).

In Hinton v Wotherspoon [2016] EWHC 623 (CH) (where this firm successfully represented the trustee in bankruptcy, Lloyd Hinton of Insolve Plus Limited), the court commented that the approach in Horton v Henry [2014] EWHC 4209 (Ch) was “plainly correct”.

The insolvency of Hanjin Shipping (Hanjin), the world's seventh largest container line, is likely to have a significant impact throughout the maritime sector. In this briefing we provide an overview of some of the potential consequences of Hanjin's insolvency and which parties will be most affected by this development.

Background

At first glance, it seems that cross-border insolvencies between the UK and EU are likely to become more time-consuming, complex and expensive post-Brexit. However, the situation may not be as dire as it first appears due to the existence of alternative legislation and the exemptions to the EU legislation. As with other areas of law, when it comes to insolvencies much will depend on what steps are taken to maintain the current arrangements with the EU or whether they fall away altogether.

Le 1^er septembre 2016 la compagnie Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd (“Hanjin”) première compagnie coréenne de transport maritime par conteneur a sollicité la protection de la loi coréenne sur les faillites et une procédure collective, dite de “réhabilitation”, a été ouverte par les tribunaux de Séoul.