Dealing a major blow to the trustee’s efforts to recover fraudulent transfers on behalf of the bankruptcy estate of the company run by Bernard Madoff, Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York held in SIPC v. Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC1 that the Bankruptcy Code cannot be used to recover fraudulent transfers of funds that occur entirely outside the United States.
Facing the imminent bankruptcy of the federal Highway Trust Fund (the “HTF”) and the specter of delays and reductions in payments from the HTF to the States, the US Congress last week passed the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014, which extended federal surface transportation programs and funding through May 2015. We summarize below the key elements of the Act.
SHAREHOLDERS ARBITRATION
In a historic USD 50 billion award rendered on July 18,
2014, an Arbitral Tribunal constituted pursuant to the
Energy Charter Treaty held unanimously that the Russian
Federation breached its international obligations under the
Energy Charter Treaty by destroying Yukos Oil Company
and appropriating its assets.
The Tribunal, applying the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules and sitting in The
ague under the auspices of the Permanent Court of Arbitration ordered the
The High Court has recently affirmed the existence and scope of a liquidator’s equitable lien in Stewart v Atco Controls Pty Limited (in liquidation) [2014] HCA 15.
A liquidator is entitled to an equitable lien for the costs, charges and expenses (including the liquidator’s remuneration) incurred by the liquidator in realising assets brought into the estate, which lien takes priority over a creditor’s security: Re Universal Distributing Co Ltd (in liquidation) [1933] HCA 2.
A recent decision of the Supreme Court of Western Australia highlights the importance of properly registering security interests under the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act).
Introduction
Early in his or her appointment a liquidator in a creditors' voluntary liquidation (CVL) should consider applying to the Court to convert the CVL to a Court ordered winding up in insolvency. Conversion may benefit the unsecured creditors, in whose interests the liquidator acts, by enabling the liquidator to pursue claims and make recoveries not available in a CVL.
The reasons liquidators have applied for conversion include:
Voluntary administrators frequently obtain Court orders permitting notices to be issued to creditors electronically. Such orders are made under section 447A of the Corporations Act (the Act) on grounds of efficiency, cost and necessity. See Mothercare Australia Ltd (Administrators Appointed) [2013] NSWSC 263 and Creative Memories Australia Pty Ltd [2013] NSWSC 1294.
Introduction
The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia has rejected an argument that the applicant for an order for a company to be wound in insolvency must prove that the company was insolvent at the "relation-back day" in addition to proving insolvency at the date of filing the application and the date of the hearing.