Overview

The High Court has held that insurers who had facilitated litigation proceedings by an insolvent company were not entitled to a lien akin to a solicitor’s common law or equitable lien over the proceeds of the litigation to recover the deferred premium.

To a layperson this may came as a surprise. But, to those familiar with the secondary loan market, it is confirmation of existing law.

A “vulture fund”– including a newly incorporated company with a share capital of only £1 that has not traded and has been established for the purpose of acquiring a defaulted loan with a view to realising more by enforcing than had been expended on acquiring the debt can be a “financial institution” for the purposes of the transfer provisions of a loan agreement.

Earlier today, the Court of Appeal handed down a significant judgment dealing with the adequacy of standard form after-the-event (“ATE”) insurance to defeat an application for security for costs.

In an unanimous ruling, the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court’s judgment on the defendants’ security for costs applications in Premier Motorauctions Limited (in liquidation), Premier Motorauctions Leeds Limited (in liquidation) v PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Lloyds Bank plc [2016] EWHC 2610 (Ch).

Insolvency & Restructuring partner Cecily Dumas recently moderated a panel on special bankruptcy issues in connection with LLCs during the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Bankruptcy 2017: Views from the Bench event at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC. During the panel, Dumas and four bankruptcy court judges discussed the viability of bankruptcy-remote LLC structures and the fiduciary duties of members. The group also explored derivative claims, special concerns regarding single-member LLCs, and sales of LLC interests.

A Primer for Issuer Tender Offers, Debt Exchange Offers, Repurchases and Other Liability Management Matters

This primer is a one-stop comprehensive guide for any issuer seeking to restructure its non-convertible debt securities outside of bankruptcy. This publication:

• summarizes the U.S. federal securities laws, rules and regulations that apply to debt restructurings;

• describes various types of debt restructurings; and

• discusses various practical considerations arising in debt restructurings.

The recent Spanish Peaks decision from the Ninth Circuit (covering Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington) deepens the split in case law on the ability to strip off leases in a landlord/borrower bankruptcy.

On July 19, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit decided an important case involving oil and gas producers, intermediaries, and the ultimate purchasers of the oil and gas. The case, a bankruptcy matter, is In re: SemCrude, LP, et al.

Since May 2002, we have had a regime which ensures that an insolvency proceeding started in one of the EU’s member states is, without further formality, recognised in all other member states (except for Denmark) and which determines the law applicable to such proceedings. That regime is provided for in the EU Regulation on insolvency proceedings (1346/2000/EC) (the EIR).

Annual Review of English Construction Law Developments May 2017 An international perspective CMS_LawTax_CMYK_28-100.eps Contents 3 Introduction 5 The interpretation of exclusion and limitation clauses: clarity restored 9 Good faith in the exercise of termination rights 13 Concurrent delay: recent developments and continued uncertainty 19 Contractual warranties and representations: telling the difference 23 On demand securities: the fraud exception in cases of legal uncertainty 31 On-demand securities: compliance with formalities and the doctrine of strict performance 37 Indirect and consequ

Court refuses application for pre-action disclosure of insurance policy

The High Court has refused an application for pre-action disclosure of the public liability insurance policy of a company that, if litigation were pursued against it, was likely to become insolvent.

Background