WHO WILL ADVOCATE FOR THE "HUMBLE" FLOATING CHARGE-HOLDER?[1]
Introduction
Having managed to undertake my first piece of business development last Friday by playing golf with a client and a couple of colleagues - all socially distanced of course - I then managed to avoid most of the news at the weekend.
When Monday morning came and I logged on to my home desk I was therefore feeling rather chipper. Sadly the feeling didn't last long as I then read that:
The BEIS press release does not give much more by way of detail. However the notes to the release state:-
- Talk to your contracting partners about any difficulties that have arisen or that you anticipate might arise. Everyone knows that unanticipated issues are going to get in the way of normal business. So address them head on. Pretending that they don't exist isn't going to be of any help to you or your business partners.
- If you are struggling financially take advantage of the government support. Our website provides guidance on how to access that support. Speak to your bank. The risk to banks is significantly mitigated by the government guarantee.
Midlothian Council v Raeburn Drilling and Geotechnical Limited & Others
One area of practice where clarity by the government will be essential is whether directors are going to be held to all the same standards during this crisis as they are in any other recession.
The Supreme Court handed down an important judgement last week in the case of BNY Corporate Trustee Services Limited v Eurosail - UK 2007 - 3BL PLC ("the Eurosail Case"), which needs to be considered by anyone who is a party to a contract which contains events of default relating to the insolvency of a party to that contract.
Background
On 8 March 2013 the Insolvency Service released details of a director's disqualification undertaking given by a John Boyd Blackwood, a Director of a rural business in Midlothian. He had given the undertaking not to act as a director of a limited company from 15 March 2013 for five years.
Matthew Purdon Henderson v. Foxworth Investments Limited and 3052775 Nova Scotia Limited
Inner House case of some complexity in which the Liquidator of the Letham Grange Development Company sought reduction of a security over the Letham Grange resort near Arbroath. The case involves a number of companies all controlled by a Mr Liu and his family.
It is fairly common for solicitors to act for both the petitioning creditor in an insolvency as well as for the insolvency practitioner appointed as liquidator. Of course, there is always the potential for a conflict of interest to arise and it can be tricky for solicitors, once involved, to be objective and determine when it is appropriate to withdraw from acting.