I. Introduction

Italy has replaced its Bankruptcy Act of 1942 with a comprehensive reform, the process for which started two years ago. On 19 October 2017, Parliament passed Law No. 155 of 2017 delegating the Government to adopt, within the next 12 months, a comprehensive reform of the rules governing financial crises and insolvency procedures. On 10 January 2019, the Government approved Legislative Decree No. 14 of 2019, captioned “Code for Distress and Insolvency” (Codice della Crisi d’Impresa e dell’Insovenza—the “Code”).

PLAN SPONSOR ENTITLED TO VOTE AS CREDITOR AND CREDITOR APPROVAL REQUIRED TO IMPLEMENT LITIGATION FUNDING AGREEMENT.

On February 1, 2019, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released its highly anticipated decision in the Orphan Well Association, et al. v. Grant Thornton Limited, et al, 2019 SCC 5 (Redwater).

While 2018 saw a slight decrease in nationwide CCAA filings (with 19 total cases commenced, compared to 23 in 2017), there were a number of important decisions rendered throughout the country. The highlights are summarized below:

Supreme Court of Canada clarifies Crown priority for GST claims

In a 2017 judgment discussed here, the Federal Court of Appeal permitted the CRA to assert a claim against a secured creditor who had received a repayment from its borrower prior to bankruptcy when the borrower also owed unremitted GST obligations to the Crown.

In Arrangement relatif à Ferreira, 2018 QCCS 3891 (“Ferreira”), the Quebec Superior Court recently annulled an assignment in bankruptcy that had been filed in Ontario in an attempt to subvert bankruptcy proceedings already underway in Quebec.

With international trade rarely making the news in this era of stable foreign relations and respectful international dialogue, you can be forgiven if you are unaware that Canada has entered several trade agreements that require it to protect trade secrets. But can Canada be forgiven for never actually enacting trade secret legislation? Maybe we can because of Canada’s substitute: the common law action for “breach of confidence”.

Over the last year, several court decisions have touched on the legislative conflict between taxation authorities and secured creditors in insolvency situations.

At a time when the actions of directors, both collectively and individually, have received considerable attention in both the academic and public press, the need for directors to understand their duties, and the steps that can be taken to fulfill their obligations and minimise potential liabilities, becomes especially important.

This article considers:

In a recent decision that is relevant to oil and gas receiverships, the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench lifted a stay of proceedings against an insolvent operator to allow the non-operating party to enforce its right to take over operatorship pursuant to the CAPL 2007 Operating Procedure.