In Kasten Energy Inc. v. Shamrock Oil & Gas Ltd., 2013 ABQB 63, the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench considered the application of Kasten Energy Inc. (“Kasten”) to appoint a receiver over all of the assets and undertakings of Shamrock Oil & Gas Ltd. (“Shamrock”). The decision in this case presents a useful and concise summary of the applicable test for the appointment of a receiver.
The retention of a proportion of the contractor's fee is common practice in construction contracts. The parties sometimes agree (usually in unamended industry standard building contracts) that the retention amount is held on trust by the employer in a separate bank account. But what happens if there is no such express provision and the employer becomes insolvent?
In November 2012, People Can, a charity employing around 300 people, went into administration after being overwhelmed by a pensions deficit of over £17 million. With charitable donations and public funding reducing, they will not be alone, as many charities face an uncertain future.
In recent years, regulators from across the professional spectrum have invested heavily in devising new procedures for handling complaints. Often, these new procedures seek to better serve the consumer by being more straightforward and more efficient. Insolvency regulators are the latest to grasp this nettle.
Regulating IPs
“When a business becomes insolvent, many interests are at risk. Creditors may not be able to recover their debts, investors may lose their investments and employees may lose their jobs. If the business is the sponsor of an employee pension plan, the benefits promised by the plan are not immune from that risk. The circumstances leading to these appeals show how that risk can materialize. Pension plans and creditors find themselves in a zero-sum game with not enough money to go around.
On Friday, February 1, 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada released its highly anticipated decision in Indalex Limited (Re). The ruling stemmed from an appeal of an Ontario Court of Appeal decision that had created commercial uncertainty for financing transactions. The primary issue for lenders was a priority dispute between a court ordered super-priority charge granted to a lender that had provided “debtor-in-possession” (DIP) financing under the Compan
The Supreme Court of Canada released its highly anticipated decision in Indalex Limited (Re) this morning. The ruling stemmed from an appeal of an Ontario Court of Appeal decision that had created commercial uncertainty among many participants in the financial services, pensions and restructuring industries.
The demise of the ARP after 30 September 2013 and the prospect of new entrants to the solicitors’ professional indemnity market creates the possibility of more incidences of insurer insolvency. We look at the consequences for firms insured by those insurers.
No financial stability requirement for qualifying insurers
This is another post-Indalex pension deficit priority case. Due to factual differences from Indalex, however, the pension claims were largely rejected.