On July 11, 2019, the Supreme Court of Canada (the SCC) granted leave to appeal from the Alberta Court of Appeal's decision in Capital Steel Inc v Chandos Construction Ltd, 2019 ABCA 32 [Chandos].

In most restructuring proceedings, money is needed to fund the professionals and the management team retained to preserve value in the insolvent company. This money must often be borrowed, and is typically secured by "super-priority" charges granted by the Court. An issue that has recently been before the Alberta courts is whether these charges also rank ahead of other claims that also have priority according to federal legislation.

The Supreme Court of Canada recently granted leave to appeal from the Alberta Court of Appeal's decision in Capital Steel Inc v Chandos Construction Ltd, 2019 ABCA 32. The case addresses the enforceability of clauses that impose monetary consequences for breach of contract, particularly where those consequences are levied because of a contracting party's insolvency.

A financial crisis and situations where insolvency is imminent are not only challenging for a company and its management, but also entail significant liability risks for management in the case of subsequent insolvency proceedings. Payments made after a company has become materially insolvent (i.e. illiquid or overindebted under Austrian insolvency law), but before the 60-day deadline for filing for insolvency has expired, are risky. Which payments are allowed according to the Austrian Supreme Court?

Scope of liability

The list of successful restructurings outside insolvency proceedings is as long as it is confidential. Every year, companies of all sizes are stabilised and sustainably restructured without the stigma of insolvency proceedings. However, until now there has been no European legal framework for pre-insolvency restructurings and only a few national laws explicitly provide for the possibility of such preventive restructurings. This will change now.

The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench has issued several conflicting decisions on whether a stay of proceedings in an insolvency matter should be temporarily lifted to allow enforcement of a contractual right to immediately replace an operator of oil and gas assets in the event of the operator's insolvency.

In a recent Bennett Jones Update—Property Tax Priorities in Alberta Insolvency Proceedings: Current Uncertainty—we discussed three recent decisions of the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta that had addressed the question of the priority of municipal property taxes in insolvency proceedings.

The Alberta Energy Regulator's Statutory Power is Not in Conflict With the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act

In a unanimous decision issued November 8, 2018, the Supreme Court of Canada granted the appeal of the decision of the Federal Court of Appeal in Canada v Callidus Capital Corp, 2017 FCA 162.

In a unanimous decision issued November 8, 2018, the Supreme Court of Canada granted the appeal of the decision of the Federal Court of Appeal in Canada v Callidus Capital Corp, 2017 FCA 162.