Background

The Second Claimant (“Mr Hunt”) was appointed liquidator of the First Claimant (“BHUK”) on 11 December 2012. The action against the Defendant was commenced on 15 October 2013. By this time BHUK had already completed the process of administration and liquidation and the only material asset in the liquidation was the claim against the Defendant.

Facts 

Mr Kuldip Singh Birdi was made bankrupt in March 2012, on the Petition of HMRC. Three Applicants (the “Applicants”) to these proceedings had all submitted proofs of debt as creditors in Mr Birdi’s bankruptcy. Together, their claims total £189,983.

The First Respondent in these proceedings, Mr Price, was appointed as Mr Birdi’s Trustee in Bankruptcy at a meeting of creditors held in July 2012. In January 2014, Mr Price retired from practice and was removed as Trustee and the Second Respondent, Mr Pettit was appointed in his place.

The Facts

The application relates to the estate of Jillian Mascall (the “Deceased”), which owned around 27 properties. The Deceased died on 4 December 2014 and it later became apparent the estate was insolvent.

Background

The claimant, Close Brothers Ltd (“Close”), a London based bank, sought to enforce its right to sell the defendant’s, AIS (Marine) 2 Limited (“AIS”) secured property following AIS’s default on repayment of a loan. The asset in question was a vessel and AIS mortgaged shares in the vessel to Close in order to secure a loan of €2,247,000 (the “Loan”). The purpose of the Loan was to assist AIS in purchasing the vessel, which cost €3,210,000.

Agreement

The Consultation

In March 2018, the Government published a consultation on its proposed reforms to the UK’s insolvency and corporate governance landscape. It sought views on ways to reduce the risk of company failures occurring through poor governance, whilst improving the insolvency framework to create a stronger business environment. The Government has now published its response to the consultation and we consider the key changes below.

Parent Company Director Accountability

Introduction

Background to the Case In this case, the High Court scrutinised the conduct of the administrators appointed by a secured lender, Dunbar Assets plc, over a company, Angel House Developments Limited, whose sole asset was an office block in the London Docklands. The sole shareholder of the company had accused the administrators of breaching a number of duties.

Background to the Case

With two decisions (No. 1895/2018 and No. 1896/2018), both filed on 25 January 2018, the Court of Cassation reached opposite conclusions in the two different situations

The case

The Constitutional Court (6 December 2017) confirmed that Art. 147, para. 5, of the Italian Bankruptcy Law does not violate the Constitution as long as it is interpreted in a broad sense

The case