The Department of Justice and Equality has announced that the Government is to introduce legislation before the summer recess giving Courts the power to review and, where appropriate, approve insolvency deals that have been rejected by banks. This process will represent a reform of the Personal Insolvency framework and "seeks to ensure that fair and sustainable deals are upheld for struggling borrowers willing to work their way out of difficulties with a view to keeping their family home."
The biggest insolvency in national retailing history, Target stores’ Canadian subsidiary, is scheduled to take key steps on the road to resolution this month and over the summer.
Target Canada applied for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) last January 15 so that it could restructure and liquidate. It then closed all its 133 stores, eliminating the jobs of more than 14,000 employees and leaving its landlords and almost 1,800 other suppliers on the hook for close to $3 billion.
The Role of the Liquidator
Judgment by Cregan J of 6 October 2014
Overview
This case concerned an application by the official liquidator of RQB Limited (in liquidation) (the Company) pursuant to S280 of Companies Act 1963 to determine the legal status of a floating charge dated 10 September 2008 which entered into by the Company in favour of Danske Bank (the Bank) and which the liquidator believes to be unenforceable.
Background
The "2005 Facility"
Original Newsletter(s) this article was published in: Commercial Litigation Update: October 2014
The Court of Appeal delivered judgment on Monday morning in the much anticipated appeal in Jervis & Others v Pillar Denton & Others on the treatment of rent payable under a lease held by a corporate tenant that enters administration. The case involved the Game Administration.
Last week the Court of Appeal finished hearing the long awaited and much anticipated appeal in Jervis and another v Pillar Denton Limited (Game Station) on the hotly contested issue of whether rent is payable as an administration expense. Depending on the decision of the appeal judges this case may trigger a dramatic shift in the way that rent arising during administration is currently treated.
Background
In the matter of Fuerta Limited, High Court, 22 January 2014
Judge: Mr. Justice Charleton
A recent decision of the High Court has highlighted the interesting area of law that applies when an application is made to wind up a company on the grounds that it is "just and equitable" to do so.
In October 2013, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its decisions in Nortel Networks Corporation (Re) and Northstar Aerospace Inc. (Re). These decisions throw yet another wrench into the gears for owners and past owners of contaminated properties and the directors and officers of corporations owning such properties.
Background to Nortel
The Supreme Court of Canada, in a decision that has implications for borrowers and lenders alike, particularly where pension funds are involved, has raised some new hurdles for the country’s banks and their business customers and, at the same time, has bolstered protection for lenders of last resort who finance insolvent companies.
The court’s decision in Sun Indalex Finance, LLC v. United Steelworkers, issued earlier this year, addresses critical questions in insolvency law regarding pension funds and DIP financing.