Fulltext Search

In light of a number of recent High Court decisions, Andy Creer considers the approach of the Court when considering an application for a speedy trial.

This note considers the way in which the practice directions governing insolvency proceedings have evolved during 2020.

This alert was written by Geoffrey Wynne, Alexandra Shipulina and Szonja Kolbenheyer (trainee solicitor)

The Act

The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020[1] ("the Act") received Royal Assent on 25 June 2020. The overarching purpose of the Act is to protect as many businesses as possible from falling into administration or insolvency as a result of the disruptions and hardship caused by the pandemic.

Adjudication is a quick and comparatively cheap method of dispute resolution and for those reasons is attractive to insolvent companies seeking to recover debts. However, a respondent was likely to be able to restrain the insolvent company from referring the matter to adjudication on the basis that it would be futile to do so, since any positive decision was unlikely to be enforced as a result of the very fact of the company’s insolvency. Therefore, any award lacked practical utility. Following the decision of the Supreme Court in Bresco v Lonsdale, that is no longer the case.

This article follows the #HardwickeBrew on 28th May 2020 which looked at the Corporate Insolvency & Governance Bill. If you would like to take part in future #HardwickeBrews, please sign up via our Events page.

Introduction

  1. This note reviews the provisions relating to the moratorium procedure for Great Britain under the draft Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill (“CIGB”).

CIGB

Re Debenhams Retail Limited (In Administration) [2020] EWCA Civ. 600

The emergence of COVID-19 (the Coronavirus) at the end of 2019 has had an unprecedented impact on the global economic system. This alert focuses on the effect the Coronavirus pandemic is likely to have on small and medium sized businesses (SMEs), their lenders in the UK and the options available to continue trading and avoid insolvency.