The Ontario Court of Appeal determines when it is appropriate to vest out a royalty interest as part of an insolvency proceeding
The Importance of the Decision
Vesting orders have become one of the most powerful tools in an insolvency professional’s toolkit, providing a purchaser with the comfort that the encumbrances contributing to the debtor’s financial difficulties cannot follow to the new owner. In light of their importance, Canadian insolvency and banking professionals were understandably anxious when the Ontario Court of Appeal (the “OCA” or the “Court”) recently asked for submissions on whether receivership vesting orders can extinguish third party interests in land in the nature of a Gross Overriding Royalty (a “GOR”).1
In the recent decision of Edmonton (City) v Alvarez & Marsal Canada Inc., 2019 ABCA 109, the Alberta Court of Appeal has concluded that fees and costs incurred by a court-appointed receiver should have priority over all claims by secured creditors, including special liens in favour of municipalities for unpaid property taxes. This is an important decision for the insolvency bar and provides some much needed comfort to receivers that their fees and costs will be protected by the court-ordered charge.
The Decision
When a plaintiff obtains a judgment from the court, that party is normally precluded from starting another lawsuit seeking the same judgment debt from the defendant.
In January, we wrote about a decision of Justice Watt of the Ontario Court of Appeal, which addressed the question of which appeal procedure must be followed in appeals of Orders made in proceedings constituted under both the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (the “BIA”) and the
Good evening.
Below are summaries of the civil decisions released by the Court of Appeal for Ontario this week.
In Galantis v Alexious, [2019] UKPC 15 the Privy Council concluded that the oppression remedy existing under the Bahamian Companies Act cannot be invoked after the dissolution of a company, with respect to oppressive conduct by directors that occurred before the dissolution of the company.
Two priority issues arise between creditors of a common debtor:
For more than 70 years, the energy industry has been one of Alberta's primary economic engines. It is no secret, however, that large scale oil and natural gas development can have a detrimental impact on the environment if it is not properly managed. This interplay between risk and benefit creates complicated policy and regulatory tensions as exploration and production (E&P) companies become financially distressed. Most stakeholders benefit from responsible resource development, but their interests diverge when a company becomes insolvent.