Limited liability is not complete protection for directors and they must carefully consider their actions and, indeed, failures to act in order to avoid “piercing the corporate veil”. Directors may be ordered to contribute to the assets of the company even where they have not acted dishonestly.
Overview of Insolvency Rules and Restructuring Procedures Pursuant to Italian Bankruptcy Law
A common issue facing landlords of commercial premises is to decide what to do if one of its tenants has stopped paying the rent and has entered into one of the types of insolvency prescribed by statute. In the case of companies, these can include company voluntary arrangements, administration, administrative receivership, Law of Property Act receivership or liquidation. In the case of individuals, they might include individual voluntary arrangements or bankruptcy.
TiBs frequently assign the right to recover debts due to the bankrupt’s estate. The advantage to the TiB is that he receives a lump sum or a share of the proceeds of a successful claim for the benefit of the bankrupt’s creditors without having to fund and pursue litigation himself. In most cases, once a TiB has assigned the right to recover the debt that will be the end of the matter; he just has to wait for the litigation to be concluded when payment of the agreed share will be made. A recent Court of Appeal decision means that this will not always be the case.
Earlier this year, the High Court gave judgment in a case involving a bankrupt who owned property in Morocco (Saunders v Donovan, unreported). The bankrupt had also granted someone a power of attorney in respect of the Moroccan property. The question that fell to be decided by the High Court was four-fold:
In Re Ruiz (a bankrupt) [2011] EWHC 913 (Fam) the High Court ruled that a wife’s right to occupy the matrimonial home did not prevent her husband’s trustee in bankruptcy (TiB) gaining and enforcing a proprietary interest in the property.
The Facts
M and G married in 2001 and moved into a house purchased by M and registered in his sole name. In 2006 divorce proceedings were initiated, following which G obtained a freezing order over M’s assets and an occupation order over the marital home.
In re Caribbean Medical Testing Center, Inc. (Bankr. D. Puerto Rico) Case no. 11-06124
In re Hotel Airport Inc. (Bankr. D. Puerto Rico) Case no. 11-06620
In re GALP Highcross Limited Partnership (Bankr. S.D. Tex.) Case no. 11-36741
In re GALP Waters Limited Partnership (Bankr. S.D. Tex.) Case no. 11-36743
In re Culver Village, LLC (Bankr. C.D. Cal.) Case no. 11-46359