Construction litigation is no stranger to insolvency, including insolvent claimants. This is also the case for adjudication, a fast and commercially driven form of dispute resolution for the construction industry. However, there has been considerable uncertainty as to the enforceability of adjudicators’ awards where a claimant is insolvent and receives a favourable decision. Recent cases have shed some light on this issue and have started to untangle the statutory difficulties when insolvency meets adjudication.

Thomas Cook Belgium and Brussels Airlines may escape fines from the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) notwithstanding the conclusion of an agreement providing for anticompetitive practices according to the Investigation and Prosecution Service of the Authority.

In August 2017, the BCA had opened an investigation into potential anticompetitive practices resulting from the conclusion of a "Commercial Service Agreement" between Thomas Cook Belgium and Brussels Airlines.

Re System Building Services Group Limited [2020] EWHC 54 (Ch)

Summary

A recent High Court ruling has considered the character and extent of directors’ duties in the context of insolvency.

In System Building Services, Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Barber (“ICCJ Barber”) considered, amongst other things, the nature of a director’s duties to a company and whether those duties survive the company’s entry into an insolvency process.

Introduction

Why are bankruptcy laws needed?

Over the past couple of years, there have been a wave of new insolvency and bankruptcy laws introduced in the GCC. With the exception of Qatar and Kuwait, all other GCC countries have now introduced new bankruptcy laws. As for Oman, its new bankruptcy law is due to come into effect on 1 July 2020.

On 14 October 2019, the European Commission (“Commission”) approved the German rescue aid to charter airline Condor under the EU State Aid rules.

Condor is going through a difficult financial situation following the entry into liquidation of the Thomas Cook Group, its parent company. The charter airline is currently facing an acute liquidity shortage but also a loss of important claims against other member companies that it will not be able to collect.

The Court of Appeal judgment in JSC BTA Bank v Mukhtar Ablyazov, Madiyar Ablyazov [2018] EWCA Civ 1176 confirms the correct approach when assessing the ‘prohibited purpose’ element of section 423 claims.

Summary

For anyone thinking of donating antiques or other valuable gifts to be part of a museum collection there is a moral to follow: beware how you give and to who you give it to! This was never better demonstrated than in the example of the Wedgwood collection and the case of the disappearing museum.

Tiuta International Ltd (In Liquidation) v De Villiers Surveyors Ltd [2017] UKSC 77

Overview

Carillion was perhaps best known for its public sector work. However, the insolvency of the UK’s second-largest construction company will inevitably have significant implications for the private sector.