The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) has recently issued welcome guidance on how the impact of COVID-19 will be considered by the ODCE when evaluating potential restriction cases in respect of directors of insolvent companies – see here.
After Pier One Imports filed for Chapter 11 on February 17, 2020, the company expected to move quickly through a process to approve a consensual reorganization plan.
The Revenue Commissioners have issued some recent welcome clarifications about certain provisions of the Government's temporary wage subsidy scheme.
Application for the Subsidy Scheme – An Admission of Insolvency?
The main provisions of the subsidy scheme are set out in Section 28 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020.
That section also contains the criteria for an employer's eligibility to avail of the subsidy scheme. One such criterion is that:
INTRODUCTION
In the case of Wilson v McNamara [2020] EWHC 98 (Ch) the High Court of England and Wales (the Court) considered whether the EU principle of freedom of establishment requires that a pension held in another EU member state (Ireland) should be excluded from a bankruptcy estate under UK law in the same manner as a UK pension would be in a UK bankruptcy. Mr Justice Nugee decided in order to decide the case the Court needed to refer a preliminary reference to the European Court of Justice (CJEU) on a question of EU law.
Associations are all too familiar with bankruptcy serial filers disrupting foreclosure sales leading to frustrating and costly consequences for the Association. Each new bankruptcy filing by the debtor forces the Association to incur additional costs and increases the amount of debt owed while the debtor continues to live on the property without paying the Association.
A recent English Court of Appeal decision has held that legal advice privilege, once established, remains in existence unless and until it is waived. Whether there is no one to waive it; or whether the Crown could have waived it but has not done so; does not matter.
What was the Background to the Case?
The “Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019” (SBRA) signed into law on August 23, 2019 contains two amendments to Chapter 11 preference laws, which are NOT limited to small business reorganizations.
1. Debtors’ Burden of Proof.
On February 25, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit) ruled that the trustee in the Chapter 11 case for Madoff Investment Securities, LLC could use the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to recover payments made between foreign entities. Previously, the Bankruptcy Court for the S.D.N.Y. and the U.S. District Court for the S.D.N.Y ruled that the trustee could NOT sue the foreign entities based on principles of international comity and the presumption against extraterritoriality of U.S. Laws, including the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
An April 12, 2019 Delaware Bankruptcy Court decision in the Sports Authority Chapter 11 case (In re TSAWD Holdings, Inc.) is an important reminder for sellers of goods on properly obtaining security in the goods they sell, to insure payment from the customer.