In recent years, there has been an increased interest in obtaining third-party funding to commence legal proceedings. The insolvency sector in particular has seen an increase in applications to court for approval of third-party funding agreements. In this article, we discuss how an insolvent entity may seek approval from the court for third-party funding to pursue legitimate claims.
Third-party funding an important resource for insolvent companies
The Law to mitigate the consequences of the COVID 19 pandemic in civil, insolvency and criminal procedure law ("Gesetz zur Abmilderung der Folgen der COVID-19-Pandemie im Zivil-, Insolvenz- und Strafverfahrensrecht") was adopted by the German Bundestag on 25 March and approved by the Bundesrat representing the federal states on 27 March 2020. With its draft published by the German Federal government on 23 March 2020, the implementation was probably the fastest legislative procedure of such scope in the history of the Federal Republic.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been conducting a review of the operation of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), seeking views as to how to reduce the number and value of claims falling to the FSCS and assessing how the scheme is funded, including the impact of professional indemnity insurance (PII).
Case Alert - [2017] EWCA Civ 1872
Court of Appeal orders security for costs where ATE insurance policy did not contain an anti-avoidance provision
A summary of recent developments in insurance, reinsurance and litigation law.
This Week's Caselaw
Essar v Norscot: Court confirms that arbitrators can award the costs of litigation funding/time limits for challenging a corrected award
Counterparties of Swiber Holdings Limited ("Swiber") and its group companies would do well to keep a close tab on any debts outstanding from the group.
Swiber, an SGX-listed company in the oil fields services sector, issued an announcement in the early hours of Thursday 28 July 2016 stating that it filed an application in the Singapore High Court for a voluntary winding up on Wednesday afternoon, together with an application to place the company under provisional liquidation.
Last year, the Ministry of Justice published its statistics for judicial and court activity in England and Wales for 2014. In this note, we take a look at the 2014 figures and highlight emerging litigation trends.
Our own enquiries into professional negligence claims for the first three quarters of 2015 show that claims numbers are likely to be broadly similar to those for 2014 and 2013. We intend to follow this note with an update after the Ministry of Justice publishes its own figures for the whole of 2015 later this year.
The slide and volatility in the oil price over the past few months has been dramatic and whilst many companies will be well positioned to weather the current climate, it has already become clear that there are some players in the industry for whom insolvency is a very real risk.
In a landmark bankruptcy case judgment issued on 10 October 2021 the Dubai Court of First Instance has held the directors and managers of an insolvent Dubai-based PJSC to be personally liable to pay the outstanding debts of the previously listed company (now in liquidation) pursuant to the UAE Bankruptcy Law. This decision represents a very significant milestone in the UAE insolvency landscape since the enactment of the Bankruptcy Law in late 2016, being the first known instance of a case where such personal liability has been ordered.
Even before the advent of Covid-19, insolvency-related D&O claims already made up a large part of the management risk landscape.
Corporate insolvencies are on the rise. 2019 saw the highest level of underlying insolvencies since 2013, with the retail, hospitality and construction industries particularly affected. As the ongoing uncertainty of the pandemic further increases the risk that companies will run into financial difficulties, insolvency can only continue to make up a large source of directors’ and officers’ (D&O) claims.