The Personal Insolvency Act 2012 was enacted with the aim of throwing a lifeline to debtors, many of whom may be in arrears on mortgage loans secured against their principal private residence.
“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.” – Leonard Bernstein
To paraphrase, great things happen when there is a plan and a deadline.
Examinership is one of Ireland’s key rescue processes for insolvent companies. It has been used successfully in very many cases since its introduction almost 20 years ago.
Crucially, it encompasses a deadline with no flexibility.
100 days
In But Ka Chon v Interactive Brokers LLC [2019] HKCA 873, the Hong Kong Court of Appeal upheld a lower court's decision to reject an application to set aside a statutory demand. The appellant had argued (among other things) that an arbitration clause in his agreement with the respondent required their dispute to be referred to arbitration.
Less than an hour after an oxygen tank exploded on Apollo 13, mission control told the crew to isolate a small tank, containing 3.9 pounds of oxygen.[1] Days later, that tank provided the oxygen to keep the crew alive while landing back on Earth.
If they had left that tank for even another hour the oxygen in it would have been almost gone.
On 11 July 2019, HMRC published its summary of responses to its “protecting your taxes in insolvency” consultation.
Following the consultation, the government will legislate in the Finance Bill 2019-20 to make HMRC a secondary preferential creditor for certain tax debts paid by employees and taxpayers. This change is intended to ensure that when a business enters insolvency, more of the taxes paid in good faith by employees and taxpayers go to the Exchequer, rather than being distributed to other creditors. Draft legislation and an explanatory note is also available.
On 11 July 2019, HMRC published a policy paper discussing measures which are aimed at those taxpayers who “unfairly seek to reduce their tax bill by misusing the insolvency of companies”. This will be achieved by making directors and other persons connected to those companies jointly and severally liable for the avoidance, evasion or “phoenixism” debts of the corporate entity.
An explanatory note and draft legislation set out the conditions that must be satisfied in order to enable an authorised HMRC officer to issue a “joint liability notice” to an individual.
The recent publication of the Courts Service Annual Report 2018 highlighted on-going economic and societal changes by way of hard data. In his Foreword to the Report, Chief Justice Frank Clarke references our digital age, noting that “people are used to round-the-clock online access to services”. He adds that the courts “must deal with the twin challenge of facilitating such access while at the same time ensuring that the court process is secure and that cases are allocated the time and consideration they require”.
The default setting for the hearing of many contested debt recovery and security enforcement cases is by way of affidavit evidence, particularly in the High Court[1]. The creditor swears an affidavit setting out the reasons why it maintains the court should rule in its favour. Certain documents can be presented as exhibits that back up its case such as a contract.