In the Court of Appeal decision of Herbert v New Zealand Guardian Trust Company Limited, the Court declined to grant Mrs Herbert's appeal in relation to the High Court's refusal to approve her creditor's proposal (see the summary in our October 2011 update).
As noted in our recent insolvency law update, the Western Australian Court of Appeal has recently delivered its judgment (comprising over 1,000 pages) on one of Australia's longest running pieces of litigation: Westpac Banking Corporation v The Bell Group (in liq) [No 3].
In the case of In Re Silverdale Developments (2007) Ltd (In Liq): Bunting v Buchanan [2012] NZHC 766, the shareholders of Silver Developments (2007) Limited (in liquidation) unsuccessfully applied to the Court to terminate the liquidation under section 250 of the Companies Act 1993.
In Perpetual Trustee Company Limited v Downey & Black, the High Court discussed the effect of the liquidation process on a choice of forum clause in a commercial contract. It found that as the subject company, HIH, had been placed into liquidation, the choice of forum clause between HIH and Perpetual (which designated the New South Wales Courts as the forum for resolution of disputes) did not automatically operate. Instead, the question became whether the New Zealand or NSW courts were the more appropriate venue.
Fortress Credit Corporation (Australia) II Pty Ltd v Fletcher [2011] FACFC 89 concerned the powers of liquidators in Australia. In 2009, joint liquidators were appointed to Octaviar Limited (Octaviar) and Octaviar Administration (Funder). Fortress claimed to be a secured creditor of Octaviar under a charge, and was owed approximately $71 million. The liquidators arranged for Octaviar and the Funder to enter into funding agreements that provided for the Funder to fund an investigation into the actions of Fortress and to commence litigation against Fortress.
In our December 2010 insolvency update, we reported on the UK High Court's decision in BNY Corporate Trustee Services Limited v Eurosail.
The mere existence of a secured remedy against another party is not a substantial ground for refusing to allow a creditor to pursue a remedy against a guarantor.
The New Zealand economy has weathered the COVID-19 pandemic better than many commentators predicted in April last year, in part due to the significant economic stimulus from the government, coupled with record high house prices and rock bottom interest rates. This is reflected in RITANZ's latest formal insolvency statistics, which show record low liquidation application numbers for September 2021 compared to the three previous years.
The UK Supreme Court in Bresco Electrical Services Ltd (in liq) v Michael J Lonsdale (Electrical Ltd) [2020] UKSC 25 has decided that the adjudication regime for building disputes is not incompatible with the insolvency process.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson yesterday afternoon announced a number of proposed temporary changes to the Companies Act, with the stated purpose to help businesses facing insolvency due to COVID-19 remain viable.
The temporary changes include: