Given the nature of their businesses, shipping companies may be involved as respondents in arbitration proceedings in different jurisdictions. As arbitrations tend to be lengthy procedures, a claimant to such proceedings may want to explore whether there are any quicker routes they can take to recover their losses. One such option they might consider is bringing a winding up petition against the company.
The slide and volatility in the oil price over the past few months has been dramatic and whilst many companies will be well positioned to weather the current climate, it has already become clear that there are some players in the industry for whom insolvency is a very real risk.
First publised in CRI
With the current financial difficulties faced by the oil & gas industry, directors of companies incorporated in England and Wales must be mindful of their duties and responsibilities to the company as well as the potential personal liability that could arise from breaching those duties and responsibilities in the context of an insolvency.
Who qualifies as a director?
Court of Appeal orders disclosure in relation to freezing order and cross-undertaking from a liquidator
A party with a statutory right to an admiralty claim in rem, which had issued its claim after the Admiralty court had ordered the sale of a vessel, did not lose its right to enforce the claim1. The claim in rem could be enforced against the sale proceeds provided that the person liable in personam was the beneficial owner of the sale proceeds.
Facts
The High Court ruling in Schroder Exempt Property Unit Trust and another v Birmingham City Council [2014] EWHC 2207 provides helpful clarification on whether or not a landlord is liable to pay business rates on an empty property following the liquidation of a tenant and the subsequent disclaimer of the lease.
Background
Whether insurer liable to repay purchasers’ deposits following dissolution of developer/policy interpretation
In 2011, the Supreme Court decided Stern v. Marshall, 564 U.S. ___, 131 S. Ct. 2594 (2011), which gave voice to the Court’s grave concerns about the constitutional limits of bankruptcy court jurisdiction and raised several questions that have confounded courts and lawyers for three years. Last week, the Supreme Court issued its first follow-up ruling, answering some of those questions and clarifying how bankruptcy courts are to handle so-called Stern claims. Despite that guidance, the opinion leaves several important questions unanswered.
As expected (and predicted), the bankruptcy judge in Dallas, Texas granted Mt. Gox’s request for an order of “recognition” that the debtor’s Tokyo insolvency action was a “foreign main proceeding.” She will also allow Mt. Gox’s bankruptcy trustee, Nobuaki Kobayahsi, to act as the “foreign representative” of the debtor in connection with whatever relief it might seek in the Chapter 15 case.