In early 2015, 9171665 Canada Ltd. and Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd. (together Connacher) applied to the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench (Court) for a final order pursuant to section 192 of the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) for the approval of a plan of arrangement to restructure Connacher (Arrangement). On April 2, 2015, Justice C.M. Jones rejected Connacher's restructuring proposal for the reasons set out below.

TORONTO (May 15, 2015) - On May 12, 2015, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and U.S. Bankruptcy Court delivered an unprecedented joint ruling in the multi-jurisdictional dispute over the allocation of US$7.3-billion raised from the sale of the Nortel Networks global business units and patent portfolio.

At dispute was how to divide Nortel’s estate between bondholders, pensioners, suppliers and former employees of the parent company in Canada and its U.S. and European subsidiaries.

Section 42 of the Bankruptcy Ordinance (Cap. 6) (“BO”) provides that where a person is adjudged bankrupt, any disposition of property made by that person from the date of presentation of the bankruptcy petition is void unless made with the consent of the Court or unless subsequently ratified by the Court. The purpose of this section is to prevent the improper dissipation of the bankrupt’s assets once a bankruptcy petition is filed and to protect the principle of pari passu distribution.

Applicants who seek ex parte relief under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) have an obligation to make full and fair disclosure of all material facts to the court.

Section 30A(1) of the Bankruptcy Ordinance (Cap. 6) (the “BO”), provides that the bankruptcy period, for a person who has been adjudged bankrupt for the first time, runs for four years. However, section 30A(4) of the BO provides eight grounds upon which the Court, on the application of the trustee in bankruptcy or a creditor, can order the suspension of a bankruptcy period – in effect lengthening the period of bankruptcy.

On August 19, 2014, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice [Commercial List] (Ontario Court) released an important decision regarding the ability of unsecured bondholders to assert a claim for “post-filing” interest in proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada) (CCAA). The CCAA is Canada’s principal statute for the restructuring of large insolvent corporations and is similar in effect to Chapter 11 of theUnited States Bankruptcy Code (Bankruptcy Code).

A bankrupt can be required to pay a portion of his income earned during the bankruptcy to his or her trustees by way of a contribution to the bankrupt estate. Such payments can be fixed by the court pursuant to section 43E of the Bankruptcy Ordinance (Cap 6 of the Laws of Hong Kong) or agreed between the bankrupt and the trustees on an informal basis, and are calculated after assessing the bankrupt's reasonable expenses.

This is an update to our September 2013 Blakes Bulletin: Increases to Alberta Licensee Liability Rating Program.

This is a case with respect to the interpretation of the words "the applicant's entitlement to severance payment" in section 16(2)(f)(i) of the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Ordinance (the "PWIO").

Under the PWIO, the applicant may apply for an ex-gratia payment from the Protection of Wages on insolvency Fund (the "Fund") as his former employer entered into voluntary liquidation.

The relevant sections of the PWIO are set out below:-

"15(1) ......an applicant to whom:-

On April 17, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada denied leave to appeal to Nortel from the decision rendered by the Ontario Court of Appeal last October. For additional details and commentary on the decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal, please see our November 2013 Blakes Bulletin: Ontario Court of Appeal Applies AbitibiBowater Test in Concurrent Decisions.