The European insolvency landscape is undergoing a period of intense transformation, driven by EU-level legislative initiatives and national responses to disruptions – most notably the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Canada’s Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) is designed to give “honest, but unfortunate debtors” a “fresh start” by automatically staying litigation and dealing with the bankrupt’s debts and liabilities in an orderly fashion. But what if the bankrupt was dishonest? Should they be entitled to have litigation stayed and their debts discharged? The BIA contains tools to address this.

In a case of first impression in the Ninth Circuit, the US Court of Appeals recently handed bankruptcy trustees a significant power by ruling in TheLovering Tubbs Trust v. Hoffman (In re O’Gorman) that a trustee can avoid intentionally fraudulent transfers under the Federal Bankruptcy Code, even if no creditor suffered harm as a result.

On August 28, 2024, Judge Gregory B. Williams of the US District Court for the District of Delaware issued a ruling in AIG Financial Products Corporation, Civ. No. 23-573, affirming an order on appeal from the Delaware Bankruptcy Court that denied a motion to dismiss a chapter 11 petition as a bad faith filing.

Construction insolvency is not a new problem. With the continued presence of fixed price contracts, in an industry which has always been troubled with cash flow problems and low profit margins, coupled with persistent cost inflation and labour and materials issues affecting the supply chain, it is no surprise that we continue to see insolvencies. The question is, what can you do to protect yourself from insolvency?

On 28 June 2021, Zacaroli J declined to sanction a restructuring plan (the “Plan”) in respect of Hurricane Energy PLC (the “Company”) under section 901F of the Companies Act 2006 (“CA 2006”). The Company is part of a group whose business is extracting oil stored within fractures in solid rock beneath the sea.

1. "German Scheme" available from 1 January 2021 in (slightly) modified form

The German Federal Parliament finally adopted the long-awaited bill to introduce a new pre-insolvency business stabilization and restructuring regime into German law.1 The new law was published in the German Federal Gazette on 29 December 2020 and will enter into force on 1 January 2021.

In several recent judgments in cases centring on complex commercial and regulatory disputes, the High Court has grappled with a number of important aspects of legal professional privilege under English law. Certain of these decisions, and their implications for parties to such disputes, are highlighted below.

Litigation privilege: sole or dominant purpose

October Bankruptcy Developments

In a victory for minority noteholders opposing an out-of-court restructuring of their distressed issuer, New York's highest court ruled last week that a holder's right to receive or sue for payment on its notes survived an exercise of statutory remedies by the trustee, conducted at the direction of a noteholder majority, that would have cancelled the holder's notes without its consent and replaced them with equity securities.