On 15 August 2008, the British Columbia Court of Appeal released its reasons for judgment in Cliffs Over Maple Bay Investments Ltd. v. Fisgard Capital Corp. (CA036261). Tysoe J.A., for the court, said that a CCAA stay of proceedings “should not be granted or continued if the debtor company does not intend to propose a compromise or arrangement to its creditors.” CCAA filings designed to permit a debtor company to carry on business and to run a sales process for the sale of all or a substantial portion of the debtor company’s business is relatively common.
On March 30, 2021, the Supreme Court of British Columbia (the Court) made an initial order under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act (the CCAA) in respect of EncoreFX Inc. (EncoreFX) one year after the commencement of its bankruptcy proceedings. The decision is unusual in that the applicant for the CCAA initial order was EncoreFX’s trustee in bankruptcy (the Trustee), who also sought to be appointed as monitor of EncoreFX (with enhanced powers). On April 22, 2021, the Court released the reasons for its decision.1
The Supreme Court of British Columbia made an order that the funds in a Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) could not be seized by the Trustee-in-Bankruptcy of the bankrupt beneficiary to satisfy the claims of creditors.
Last year’s list of the top ten judicial decisions of import to the Canadian Oil and Gas Industry (found here) illustrated that 2014 was a high-water mark for important judicial decisions affecting the oil and gas industry. In 2015, we have seen several of the key 2014 cases applied, confirmed or addressed, in particular in relation to Aboriginal title, contract interpr
The recent British Columbia Supreme Court decision in Yukon Zinc Corporation (Re), 2015 BCSC 836, provides some rare insight into the operation of provincial “miners lien” legislation in an insolvency context.
Background
In Yukon (Government of) v. Yukon Zinc Corporation, 2019 YKSC 39 (“Yukon Zinc”), the Yukon Supreme Court recently lifted a stay of proceedings imposed in proposal proceedings commenced in British Columbia by Yukon Zinc, a Vancouver-based mining company whose principal asset is the Wolverine Mine in Yukon.
Introduction
Before July 2016, in order to wind-up a strata corporation voluntarily through a liquidator in B.C., unanimous approval of the strata owners was generally required. The unanimity requirement made strata wind-ups a rare event, and consequently it was exceedingly difficult for owners to sell a strata complex in its entirety for redevelopment. In an influential 2015 report, the B.C. Law Institute (“BCLI”) identified some of the problems with the unanimity requirement:
On January 25, 2017, the British Columbia Supreme Court rendered its decision in Tudor Sales Ltd. (Re), 2017 BCSC 119.
The challenging commodity price environment will likely bring renewed focus on the rights and obligations that will be impacted if insolvency overtakes exploration and production companies. The British Columbia Supreme Court’s recent decision in Re: Walter Energy Canada Holdings, Inc. is a case in point. The case dealt squarely with the question of whether a mineral royalty “runs with the land” – a question that takes on significantly greater importance in the insolvency context.
The British Columbia Court of Appeal recently released a helpful decision applying principles of discoverability to determine when a limitation period begins to run. In Roberts v. E.