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FOLLOWING OUR PREVIOUS ARTICLES ON THE QUALEX-LANDMARK TOWERS INC V 12-10 CAPITAL CORP CASE BEING HEARD IN THE ALBERTA COURTS, 12-10 CAPITAL CORP HAS NOW BEEN APPEALED SUCCESSFULLY IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF ALBERTA, WHICH RELEASED IT’S DECISION EARLIER LAST MONTH. BEALE & CO PROVIDES AN UPDATE AND FURTHER COMMENTARY ON THE LATEST DEVELOPMENT OF THIS ENVIRONMENTAL CASE.

The number of company insolvencies in 2023 increased by over a third compared to 2022. The hospitality sector was particularly badly affected, with 53% more insolvencies than in 2022.

It appears that 2024 will be similarly challenging for companies in the hospitality sector. The Restaurant Association of Ireland (RAI) has set out the main challenges faced by the industry, including increased energy and labour costs, and the VAT rate reverting to 13.5% after having been reduced to 9% during the covid-19 pandemic.

As we turn to a new year, my wife and I like to reminisce about our best days and milestones of the prior year (for 2023, it was a huge celebration with our best friends for my wife’s birthday, an epic bike ride with our kids on a beautiful day in Kiawah, and seeing “the Boss” in concert in Greensboro). Professionally, I find myself thinking about my friend and mentor, George Cauthen, who reached a milestone and retired from the active practice of law in 2023.

Following our previous article on the Canadian case of Qualex-Landmark Towers Inc v 12-10 Capital Corp, there has been an application to appeal to Alberta’s highest court with several intervener applications. Beale & Co provides an update and further commentary on the next chapter of this environmental case.

The High Court has reaffirmed the test to be applied in considering an application to dismiss a bankruptcy summons grounded on a judgment.

The bankruptcy process in Ireland involves multiple steps and the debtor can seek to bring it to a halt at each step. Debtors often seek to rerun effectively the same arguments at each step, ignoring previous findings by the courts. One such step is an application to dismiss a bankruptcy summons.

In Matter of Imperial Petroleum Recovery Corp., 84 F.4th 264 (5th Cir. 2023), the Fifth Circuit was asked to address whether 28 U.S.C. § 1961(a) – the federal statute providing for post-judgment interest – applies in adversary proceedings even though 28 U.S.C. § 1961(a) doesn’t explicitly refer to bankruptcy courts.

In earlier posts, the Red Zone has discussed the Supreme Court’s ruling in Siegel v. Fitzgerald, 142 S. Ct. 1770 (2022), which held that increased U.S. Trustee quarterly fees for large Chapter 11 debtors between 2018 and 2020 under the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017 (the “2017 Act”) were unconstitutional because of disparate treatment of Chapter 11 debtors in Bankruptcy Administrator (“BA”) districts, and subsequent judicial decisions determining the appropriate remedy for debtors who overpaid those fees.

There are certain circumstances where liquidators can be held personally liable for costs orders made in proceedings taken by them.

Under the so called “Ballyrider Principles[1]”:

On July 25, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an important opinion protecting the rights of stalking horse bidders in Section 363 sales. In the Matter of Bouchard Transportation Company, Inc. involved one of the largest petroleum shipping companies in the United States. Bouchard sought to sell a large portion of its assets, consisting of certain vessels, through a Bankruptcy Court approved auction. In anticipation of the auction, Bouchard sought, and the Bankruptcy Court entered a bidding procedures order.