Second and third time personal bankruptcies are uncommon, but fourth time bankruptcies are so rare they deserve recognition. The Supreme Court of British Columbia was recently presented with one such instance when Mr. Douglas Kusch applied for a discharge from his fourth bankruptcy.

A. The Restructuring Candidate

Many multinational corporations ("MNCs") are either restructuring or actively considering restructuring their China operations, given the current economic conditions and forecasts. Restructuring efforts often include consolidating legal entities, business units, and operations; closing down operations and factories; and workforce reductions. Implementing such restructuring efforts often raises complicated legal issues, many of which require careful analysis in light of recent legislation and policy considerations.

Consolidating Operations

The Czech Parliament passed an amendment to the Code of Civil Procedure (Act No. 99/1963 Coll., as amended) and the Act on Execution Procedure (Act No. 120/2001 Coll., as amended). Most of the provisions of the new legislation will be effective as of 1 January 2013. The amendment will, among other things, significantly modify the rules on enforcement of claims in the Czech Republic, as it changes some of the existing methods of enforcement under Czech law as well as introducing new ones.

In its decision of 11 July 2013, Reference No. 21 ICdo 21/2012, the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic comprehensively expressed its opinion on the substantive legal aspects of re-pledging a receivable burdened by a lien and the possibility of negotiating a contractual waiver of re-pledging receivables. According to the decision, the pledging of a receivable does not preclude the possibility of establishing another lien on the same receivable. This decision is crucial for pledgees, typically financing banks.

Case background

In a judgment of November 29, 2007 that is of particular interest to financial institutions involved in asset-based lending, the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof) allayed concerns that a global assignment (Globalzession)—the assignment of all existing and future trade receivables to a lender to secure loans—would not survive the insolvency of the respective originator.[1] This decision was eagerly awaited because various judgments of German Higher Regional Courts (Oberlandesgerichte) had raised concerns lately that the security interest over receivables created in the last th

Tax treatment in the hands of the creditor

If a creditor waives an intra-group receivable, this leads to an accounting loss in the amount of the receivable. Such loss, however, is not automatically tax-deductible in the hands of the creditor.

Due to the ongoing financial crisis and the economic downturn accompanied therewith, many German companies are or will be struggling with default and insolvency problems.

Did you know...

it has been argued that a factoring arrangement over invoices of a company could be challenged as a charge over book debts and thus is void against liquidators of the company unless registered under section 80 of the Companies Ordinance.

Co-Author - Jehangir N. Mistry Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe

Co-Author - Shireen Pochkhanawalla Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe

This article was published in Bankruptcy Law360 and Corporate Finance Law360 on May 23, 2011. © Copyright 2011, Portfolio Media, Inc., publisher of Law360.