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New requirements brought in during the Covid-19 pandemic have added to the potential procedural pitfalls facing creditors seeking a winding up order in recent months. They have also led to quite a lot of adjourned hearings and delays.

How should liquidators deal with the administrative burden of adjudicating thousands of low-value proof of debts in a liquidation estate, without exhausting the limited assets available in the liquidation estate? The Grand Court recently sanctioned a pragmatic solution.

Introduction

This article first appeared in FIRE magazine.

Introduction

Dispute Resolution analysis: Deputy ICCJ Schaffer has dismissed an application brought by the Respondents to a claim brought by the Joint Liquidators of BHS Group Ltd for wrongful trading. The failure to plead the relevant quantum of the claim was not a deficiency which merited strike-out.

Re BHS Group Ltd [2021] EWHC 3501 (Ch)

What are the practical implications of this case?

The UK government attempted to ease the financial strain of the COVID-19 pandemic with, among other things, rent "holidays" for tenants and the opportunities for loans for certain businesses. While some businesses were able to avail themselves of such measures, not all were eligible or able to utilise such schemes. It seems that commercial landlords have been one of the sectors that have been hit hard, especially with some commercial tenants not surviving the downturn.

Introduction

In the context of insolvency, the principle of "modified universalism" (Universalism) is defined by Lord Sumption in Singularis Holdings v Prince Waterhouse Coopers as:

These case summaries first appeared in LexisNexis’ Insolvency Case Alerter. They represent some of the more interesting insolvency decisions to have been published recently.

This summary covers: