The Supreme Court handed down an important judgement last week in the case of BNY Corporate Trustee Services Limited v Eurosail - UK 2007 - 3BL PLC ("the Eurosail Case"), which needs to be considered by anyone who is a party to a contract which contains events of default relating to the insolvency of a party to that contract.
Background
On 8 March 2013 the Insolvency Service released details of a director's disqualification undertaking given by a John Boyd Blackwood, a Director of a rural business in Midlothian. He had given the undertaking not to act as a director of a limited company from 15 March 2013 for five years.
Matthew Purdon Henderson v. Foxworth Investments Limited and 3052775 Nova Scotia Limited
Inner House case of some complexity in which the Liquidator of the Letham Grange Development Company sought reduction of a security over the Letham Grange resort near Arbroath. The case involves a number of companies all controlled by a Mr Liu and his family.
For some, environmental liability is akin to a game of hot potato. In other words, no one wants to be the one left holding the potato when the music stops playing - otherwise they could be facing significant obligations to remedy contaminated lands. As remediation costs can be significant, owners, purchasers and creditors must tread carefully when dealing with contaminated real estate.
It is fairly common for solicitors to act for both the petitioning creditor in an insolvency as well as for the insolvency practitioner appointed as liquidator. Of course, there is always the potential for a conflict of interest to arise and it can be tricky for solicitors, once involved, to be objective and determine when it is appropriate to withdraw from acting.
Outer House case considering a motion for recall of inhibitions served on Cordelt Limited and Mako Property Limited by Playfair Limited. Mako and Cordelt argued that the inhibitions prevented them showing clear searches to purchasers in implement of a contract to sell properties in Edinburgh.
The Bankruptcy Fees etc (Scotland) Regulations 2012 recently implemented some significant changes to the Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB)’s fees structure. Key changes include:
As some may be aware, the Court of Session last year issued a Practice Note on the subject of making applications to extend the period of administration beyond the initial 12 month period.
The current position is that 8 players have been reported as having objected to their contracts of employment transferring to the "new Rangers". Charles Green has apparently threatened to litigate any departing players given that, in his view, they are in breach of contract.
The British Columbia case of Botham Holdings Ltd. (Trustee of) v. Braydon Investments Ltd. is a reminder that tax and estate plans must take non-tax issues and law into account. It can be extremely dangerous to let the tax tail wag the dog!
Mr. Botham and a family trust were the shareholders of Botham Holdings Ltd. ("Holdings"). In 2004 Holdings was fortunate enough to realize a large capital gain and, as a result, incurred a significant income tax liability.