The UK Government has announced a further extension to certain protective measures for businesses which are currently in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the pandemic, the UK Government has put legislative measures in place to protect commercial tenants by preventing landlords from using certain remedies such as forfeiture and winding up petitions. However, the legislation does not specifically prevent a landlord from issuing debt claims against its tenants for arrears of rent and other amounts due under a lease (see the recent case of Commerz Real Investmentgesellschaft mbh v TFS Stores Limited [2021] EWHC 863 (Ch)).
We discussed in the March 2020 edition of the Texas Bar Journal1 the bankruptcy court ruling by Judge Craig A. Gargotta of San Antonio in In Re First River Energy LLC that oil and gas producers in Texas do not hold perfected security interests in oil and gas well proceeds, notwithstanding the Texas Legislature’s efforts to protect producers and royalty owners following the downturn in the 1980s. The Fifth Circuit recently reaffirmed Judge Gargotta’s decision.
This article sets out some reflections on the decision of the Supreme Court in Sevilleja v Marex Financial Limited [2020] UKSC 31 from July 2020 which clarifies the scope of the so-called ‘reflective loss’ rule. The first instance judgment raised some comment-worthy issues regarding the economic torts which were not the subject of any appeal.
Unless the Article 50 period is extended yet again, the UK is currently set to leave the EU on 31 October 2019 at 11pm GMT. However, if the Withdrawal Agreement is ratified, the impact of Brexit will, for most purposes, be postponed due to the transition period. This transition period is currently set to end on 31 December 2020. The Withdrawal Agreement provides that during transition, the UK would continue to be treated as if it were still an EU member for the purposes of a range of directly application EU legislation which is core to the smooth running of financial transactions.
This page was updated on 8 January 2021.
From 1 December 2020 new changes to the priority rules in insolvency will have a real impact on the recoveries achieved by secured creditors on the insolvency of a debtor. These new rules give HMRC priority above floating charge holders and ordinary unsecured creditors in relation to tax collected by an insolvent company from third parties, such as VAT, PAYE income tax and NICs.
The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (“CIGA”), which came into force on 26 June 2020, introduced a series of new “debtor friendly” procedures and measures to give companies the breathing space and tools required to maximize their chance of survival. The main insolvency related reforms in CIGA (which incorporates both permanent and temporary changes to the UK’s laws) include:
1. New moratorium to give companies breathing space from their creditors
2. Prohibition on termination of contracts for the supply of goods and services by reason of insolvency
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