The recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in Jetivia S.A. and Another v Bilta (UK) Limited (in liquidation) and Ors should make it easier to pursue claims against rogue directors. The Supreme Court held that, in instances where a company has suffered as a result of the unlawful behaviour of its directors, that behaviour cannot be attributed to the company to disallow the company, or its liquidators, from raising claims against directors for breach of their duties.

Background

On 29 April 2015 The Insolvency Service of the UK Government published updated insolvency statistics which include a breakdown of insolvencies that occurred in 2014 across various industry sectors including the construction industry.  There are separate tables of statistics for England and Wales and for Scotland.

The European Court of Justice (Judgment of 4 September 2014, C-327/13), held that in accordance to the ECRegulation No. 1346/2000, a secondary insolvency proceeding in the Member State where the debtor has its registeredoffice – which does not coincide with the centre of its main interest (COMI) – may be opened at the request of creditorsentitled under the law of that State.

The case

A  focus  on  the  different  interpretations  concerning  the  treatment  of  claims  for  costs  allocation  in  legal proceedings where a creditor is successful against a debtor admitted to a concordato preventivo procedure

The issue

The Court of Padua (6 March 2015) ruled that the authorization can be granted – provided that it is a case of urgency as required by law – only to the extent that the interests of creditors are best protected, through a competitive sale procedure setting a reasonable timing and an appropriate data room.

The case

What’s going on in Brussels? A lot. And trying to follow it all can be difficult.

So this section of AcrossEU seeks to provide you with an overview of what each of the three main EU institutions are doing.

The Commission

The legislative process regarding the proposal of the Parliament and of the Council to amend the Regulation (whichwould introduce various changes as proposed by the Commission in order to address issues arisen in the enforcementof the Regulation) is approaching its conclusion

Introduction

The decision of the Court of Treviso of 26 February 2015 admitted a concordato proposal providing for a partial payment of receivables having a lien over the entire estate and for payment of unsecured creditors out of the higher liquidation value of the debtor’s assets according to the concordato plan, as compared to the bankruptcy liquidation value

The case

Two recent decisions of the Court of Reggio Emilia (18 December 2014) and of the Court of Palermo (13 October 2014) followed the Supreme Court’s case law according to which companies  held  by  public agencies can be declared bankrupt, even in case they provide “in house” services mainly to shareholders

The cases

The insolvency of Scottish Coal Company Ltd ("SCC") has given rise to two recent Scottish Court of Session cases regarding performance bonds – East Ayrshire Council ("EAC") v Zurich Plc (24 June 2014) and South Lanarkshire Council ("SLC") v Coface SA (27 January 2015).