When negotiating a commercial lease, it is in the landlord’s best interest to require that securities be provided by the prospective tenant in order to protect the landlord against the tenant’s failure to perform its obligations under the lease. A frequent cause of a tenant’s inability to perform its obligations is its insolvency or financial difficulties.
When negotiating a commercial lease, the lessor has every interest in demanding guarantees from his future tenant to protect himself in case of non-fulfillment of his obligations. A common cause of the tenant's breach of his obligations is his insolvency or financial hardship. However, it is important for any lessor to know that a tenant's bankruptcy or filing of a notice of intention or a proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (" LFI ") may have the effect of annihilating the protection offered by certain guarantees.
2017 saw a number of interesting and important developments in Canadian insolvency and restructuring matters. Some of the highlights (which, in certain instances, will continue as issues in 2018 and beyond) are set forth below:
1) Trends: Fewer CCAA Filings and Retail Insolvencies in the News
This fall, the NDP and the Bloc Québécois (“Bloc”) have both introduced private member’s bills seeking to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act(“BIA”) and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (“CCAA”).
RCR International, Inc. (“RCR”), along with its wholly-owned subsidiary, has filed a petition under Chapter 15 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Lead Case No. 18-10112).
In a September 19, 2017 decision from the bench in the matter of Bank of Montreal v. Kappeler Masonry Corporation, et. al.1 (“Kappeler Masonry”), Madam Justice Conway of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List) (the “Court”) confirmed that commingling of construction project receipts in a receiver’s estate account is fatal to a Construction Lien Act (Ontario) (the “CLA”) trust claim in the face of a debtor’s bankruptcy.
In the recent unreported decision, Bank of Nova Scotia et al v. Virginia Hills Oil Corp. et al, File No. 1701-02184, the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench held that not all municipal property tax claims are priority secured claims in an insolvency.
A recent unreported decision in the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench has clarified the ranking of certain municipal tax claims against a bankrupt in Alberta. In Bank of Nova Scotia et al v. Virginia Hills Oil Corp.
On April 24, 2017, in Orphan Well Association v.Grant Thornton Limited, the Alberta Court of Appeal (Court) upheld Chief Justice N.