In a judgment handed down last week, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of Mr Justice Blackburne (previously reported here) that the English courts have no jurisdiction to sanction the proposed scheme of arrangement for Lehman Brothers International Europe (LBIE) insofar as it purports to extinguish rights of beneficiaries under trusts.
On 23 November a new form of diligence will be created which allows creditors to seize money belonging to a debtor in satisfaction of a debt.
In principle, all assets owned by a debtor should be susceptible to enforcement of a debt. But at present, creditors are unable to take diligence against cash owned by a debtor. To rectify this anomaly, a special category of diligence - money attachment - has been introduced by Part 8 of the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007.
When can a money attachment be used?
Following up on our previous blog on Lord Glennie's controversial decision in the Scottish Lion solvent scheme of arrangement we can now report that last week the scheme was formally dismissed.
The insolvency of UK insurance companies is, fortunately, a fairly rare event. Even in the current difficult times - and despite speculation about the solvency of some insurers - we have yet to see a UK insurance company actually go into liquidation.
FSA has announced a range of measures to help investors who got unsuitable advice or misleading materials relating to Lehman-backed structured products. It has found significant failings and the actions it is taking will apply to all structured products in future:
The case of D/S Norden A/S v Samsun Logix Corp & Ors [2009] EWHC 2304 (Ch) concerned international co-operation in insolvency proceedings under the UNCITRAL model law on cross-border insolvency. S was subject to insolvency proceedings in Korea. The English court, having recognised the Korean insolvency proceedings, had granted a stay on creditors issuing proceedings against S and its property.
In August we reported that the Court of Appeal had expressed doubts as to whether the EAT in Oakland v Wellswood was right to suggest that pre-pack administrations could be insolvencies "begun with a view to liquidation" (so that TUPE does not apply to transfer employees).
Summary: A Supreme Court decision on 29 October 2009 has overturned the previous Court of Appeal ruling in relation to Sigma Finance (in administrative receivership) (Sigma).
It is not uncommon for companies, often property related joint ventures or single purpose vehicles, to be incorporated abroad for tax reasons but carry on much of their business in Scotland or elsewhere in the U.K. This can result in difficulties when determining where to initiate insolvency proceedings.
In a recent case in the Court of Appeal, the Court ruled that information on a web page under the heading ‘about us’, that contained advice to users to obtain further information, was sufficient to absolve a trade organisation from its ‘guarantee’ responsibilities.
Customers who use members of the Swimming Pool and Allied Trades Association (SPATA) can claim redress in the event that a member becomes insolvent. However, the redress applies only where the membership is a full membership, not an associate membership.