Introduction

On Tuesday 10 June 2014 in the Australian Capital Territory Industrial Magistrates Court, an early mention in the Kenoss Contractors case was heard.  This case includes a prosecution of both an organisation for allegedly failing to meet the primary health and safety duty and an officer for allegedly failing to exercise due diligence under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (ACT) which commenced on 1 January 2012.  This case is ostensibly the first prosecution of an officer under the new harmonised WHS laws.

Le créancier d’une société déclarée en faillite doit effectuer une déclaration de créances auprès du greffe du tribunal de commerce qui a déclaré la faillite en mentionnant le montant de sa créance et le privilège éventuel dont il peut se prévaloir. Dans l’hypothèse où le produit de la réalisation des actifs de la société faillie/en liquidation est suffisant, ce privilège permettra de récupérer à l’issue de la procédure de faillite un éventuel dividende.

Het Hof van Justitie heeft geoordeeld dat onder de werkingssfeer van de Insolventieverordening niet alleen situaties vallen die verband houden met twee of meer lidstaten; een dergelijke algemene en absolute voorwaarde voor de toepassing van de Insolventieverordening zou de doelstelling hiervan immers voorbij schieten en een efficiënte en doeltreffende afwikkeling van insolventieprocedures in het gedrang brengen.

Introduction

The ongoing financial crisis has not left France untouched. The number of company insolvencies rose considerably in 2013: while judicial rehabilitation proceedings remained stable, liquidation proceedings increased by 4% from 2012, and “safeguard” proceedings (a procedure inspired by “Chapter 11” proceedings in the United States) increased by 9%. Pre-insolvency proceedings such as judicially-supervised conciliation and ad hoc mediation reached an all-time high, 24% over 2012.

Introduction

Fixed and floating charges – why are they important?

They give a lender a higher position in the queue for the net proceeds of a borrower’s assets in the event of a borrower’s insolvency.

After five years of litigation, on 3 April 2014, the US Department of Justice entered into a settlement agreement with Kerr-McGee Corporation and its parent company, Anadarko Petroleum (“Kerr-McGee”). This agreement requires Kerr-McGee to pay $5.15 billion in order to compensate for its environmental and tort liabilities of the past 85 years.

This agreement came after the 12 December 2013 judgment of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in Tronox Inc., et al., v. Kerr-McGee Corp., et al. (In re Tronox Inc.), 503 B.R. 239 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2013).

This blog refers to Bettina Goletz’s blog on “Limits on non-compete and non-solicitation clauses under German law”. We have recently been asked whether the employee is entitled to compensation payments under a post-contractual non-compete clause in the situation where the employing company files for insolvency.

Introduction

When the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (Model Law) was introduced into Australian law in 2008, Australian admiralty practitioners expressed concern that the legislation which enacted the Model Law into Australian law did not take into account its potential impact on the right to arrest a ship in Australia.  The concern was that the Model Law would prevent parties from arresting ships in Australia, if the shipowner or charterer was the subject of foreign insolvency proceedings.  

Suite aux faillites d’une quinzaine de boutiques au mois de septembre dernier au centre-ville de Luxembourg et partant du constat de la disparition progressive des commerces en centre-ville ainsi que d’une baisse de la création d’entreprises dans le secteur du commerce de détail, l’ancien gouvernement a émis un avant-projet de loi sur le bail commercial le 4 octobre 2013 (ci-après « l’avant-projet » ou le « projet »).