Dispute Resolution analysis: Deputy ICCJ Schaffer has dismissed an application brought by the Respondents to a claim brought by the Joint Liquidators of BHS Group Ltd for wrongful trading. The failure to plead the relevant quantum of the claim was not a deficiency which merited strike-out.
Re BHS Group Ltd [2021] EWHC 3501 (Ch)
What are the practical implications of this case?
These case summaries first appeared in LexisNexis’ Insolvency Case Alerter. They represent some of the more interesting insolvency decisions to have been published recently.
This summary covers:
We are (or were!) emerging from nearly two years of restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic which forced people to stay at home and businesses to close causing shock waves throughout the economy. The government put in place the package of emergency measures and support which we are now all too familiar with. However, the question always lingered, what next? What about when the money runs out?
The existence of a personal guarantee over a debt may affect the enforceability of that debt after a company has gone through an examinership process.
A creditor’s ability to enforce a debt subject to a guarantee after a period of examinership is dependent upon that guarantor having been granted a right to vote at the creditors’ meeting approving the scheme of arrangement.
The new formal rescue process for small and medium sized companies, SCARP, is now formally a part of Irish law. The legislation underpinning the new rescue process was officially commenced on Tuesday 7 December 2021.
This appeal concerned (inter alia) whether an application for an order for sale made under s.335A of the Insolvency Act 1986 (‘IA 1986’) should be made by an application notice issued under the Insolvency Rules 2016 (‘IR 2016) or by a Part 8 Claim Form issued under the Civil Procedure Rules (‘CPR’).
Factual Background
Introduction
In Re Bronia, ICC Judge Burton had to consider whether a director could retrospectively re-characterise a director’s loan as ‘drawings’ in order to release the director from liability to the company. ICC Judge Burton concluded that such an approach was impermissible.
Facts
These case summaries first appeared in LexisNexis’ Insolvency Case Alerter. They represent some of the more interesting insolvency decisions to have been published recently.
This summary covers:
The High Court recently refused a winding up petition brought by a landlord against a tenant company that had not paid rent on its commercial premises for more than a year.
Lestown Property Limited v The Companies Act 2014 [2021] IEHC 513.
A dispute arose between a landlord, Lestown Property, and a tenant that operated a Leisureplex in Charlestown Shopping Centre. The Leisureplex was only accessible through the lobby of an adjacent cinema. The cinema was leased to a separate entity and was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Government has issued a press release stating that it has approved the publication of an upcoming Bill providing the legislative basis for a new insolvency process: the Small Company Administrative Rescue Process (“SCARP”). The announcement follows the publication of the General Scheme of the Bill last month and its indications that it would be prioritising this legislation.