Richards J provided directions on issues brought forward by administrators including:

• the treatment of interest

• in the context of various provable and non-provable debts.

The newest in the series of judgments to deal with interest arising out of creditors’ claims in the administration of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (LBIE), this latest instalment sought to deal with six supplemental issues on which the administrators sought directions.

One interesting discussion related to:

This article was first published in The Gazette and the full article can be found online here.

As there is no clear definition in s.335A(3) of the Insolvency Act 1986 of what amounts to ‘exceptional circumstances’, the courts must apply the judgments of case law when determining whether to delay an order for possession and sale.

In an article for the LexisNexis ‘On the edge’ series of briefings, which highlight areas of legislation that may not fall with the everyday work of insolvency practitioners, Pat Saini and Séamas Gray offer guidance on immigration law.

Why is immigration law relevant to insolvency practitioners and their staff?

Legislation applicable generally

Gowling WLG's finance litigation experts bring you the latest on the cases and issues affecting the lending industry.

Having launched the original version three years ago, we have refreshed our Safeguarding Your Business guide as an eBook. The guide assists clients in protecting themselves either proactively or reactively in respect of a counterparty’s insolvency with new sections on trusts and examples of how we have helped, using some of the principles raised.

The case of Burnden Holdings (UK) Limited (in liquidation) v (1) Gary John Fielding (2) Sally Anne Fielding [2016] determined whether a claim in respect of breach of duty against two directors of Burnden Holdings (UK) Limited (Burnden) was time-barred. The alleged breach of duty was in connection with a distribution in specie. The Court of Appeal overturned the High Court’s decision and held that section 21 of the Limitation Act 1980 (LA 1980) applied so that the claim was not subject to the usual period of limitation.

Under the insolvency legislation, any dispositions of property or payments made by a company after it has been presented with a winding up petition are void, unless validated by the Court.

In Evans v Jones the directors of a liquidated company sought to defend a claim brought by the liquidators that loan repayments were insolvent transactions by asserting that the company was balance-sheet solvent at the time of the transactions.  The directors based this claim on the company having contingent assets in the form of dividend payments (to the directors) that were later found to be unlawful. 

The UK Supreme Court has confirmed that an irrevocable agency will only be created in exceptional circumstances.

GENERAL CORPORATE

In this issue, we focus on cases concerning directors’ considerations when making a solvency statement for a capital reduction, and whether “bad leaver” provisions containing compulsory share transfers are capable of being contractual penalties.

Statements of solvency on a reduction of capital: what must the directors consider?

The High Court has held in BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana SA & others [2016] that payments of dividends were not made in breach of the Companies Act 2006 (the “Act”).