The new section 588GA of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Act) provides a “safe harbour” from insolvent trading claims for directors who, when suspecting a company may be or is insolvent, start developing a course of action that is reasonably likely to lead to a better outcome for the company.
La Sentencia 3019/2017 de la Sala de lo Civil del Tribunal Supremo, de 18 de julio de 2017 aclara que los administradores sociales, tanto los de derecho, como los de hecho, serán responsables solidarios por las deudas contraídas por la sociedad como consecuencia de un despido, declarado improcedente después del acaecimiento de una causa de disolución.
La Dirección General de los Registros y del Notariado, en su Resolución de 14 de junio de 2017, ha desestimado el recurso interpuesto contra la negativa del Registrador Mercantil de Burgos a inscribir una escritura de nombramiento y cese de administradores. El motivo de la negativa reside en la previa disolución de pleno derecho de la sociedad en virtud de la Disposición Transitoria Primera de la Ley 2/2007, 15 de marzo, de Sociedades Profesionales.
In the recent Federal Course case of Lane (Trustee), in the matter of Lee (Bankrupt) v Deputy Commissioner of Taxation [2017] FCA 953 (Lane v DCT), Justice Derrington provided an in-depth analysis of the principles relating to an insolvent trustee’s right of indemnity over trust assets.
The amendments to the Corporations Act1 to broaden the ‘safe harbours’ for directors on an insolvency were passed by Parliament on 12 September 20172 and are awaiting a date for commencement.
The intention of the legislation is to “drive cultural change amongst company directors by encouraging them to keep control of their company, engage early with possible insolvency and take reasonable risks to facilitate the company’s recovery instead of simply placing the company prematurely into voluntary administration or liquidation.”3
On 12 September 2017, some of the most significant reforms of Australia’s corporate insolvency laws in recent years were passed by both Houses of the Australian Federal Parliament. These reforms will introduce:
The innocuously named Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Enterprise Incentives No 2) Bill 2017 (Cth) (the Bill) makes only a small number of amendments to the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) insofar as the safe harbour reforms of Australia’s insolvent trading law are concerned.
El Tribunal Supremo reitera, en su sentencia de 5 de mayo de 2017, su doctrina relativa a la acción individual de responsabilidad de los administradores y la necesidad de que además de probarse el daño se demuestre la existencia de una conducta del administrador, ilegal o carente de la diligencia de un ordenador empresario, así como la existencia del nexo causal entre la conducta y el daño.
The Queensland Supreme Court in the case of Scott & Ors v Port Hinchinbrook Services Limited & Ors [2017] QSC 92 has again confirmed the utility of a Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA) in respect of director appointments and members’ rights as part of a restructure.
Issues
The Court was asked to consider the following issues:
A recent court decision is a timely reminder of the limitations that can affect a person’s ability to rely on set-off rights when a debtor or contract counterparty becomes insolvent.