On 10 September 2021, Chief Justice Smellie QC in Re Premier Assurance Group SPC Ltd. (in Official Liquidation) sanctioned a streamlined adjudication process proposed by the joint official liquidators ("JOLs") of Premier Assurance Group SPC Ltd (in Official Liquidation) (the "Company"), circumventing the requirement for thousands of participants to lodge separate proofs of debt in an insolvent liquidation.
Antitrust team leader Edoardo Cazzato joins the firm with team
In a relationship between a creditor and debtor, the issue of liability is always a cause of concern. This is made even more apparent when there is more than one debtor involved as the terms of liability is not necessarily clear. Among the popular issues of contention is whether the debtors’ liability is joint or joint and several. In this commentary, we will explore this artificial distinction through the recent Federal Court case of Lembaga Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja v. Edwin Cassian Nagappan @ Marie [2021] 1 LNS 928.
Insolvency practitioners and buyers of distressed assets beware: although the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (NSI Act) will come into effect in the UK on 4 January 2022, it has retrospective power to examine transactions from 12 November 2020.
Mandatory notification
Il Decreto Legge n. 118/2021, proposto dalla Commissione Pagni ed approvato dal Consiglio dei Ministri ad inizio agosto, è stato pubblicato sulla Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 202 del 24 agosto (“Decreto”).
Con tale Decreto, il Governo ha introdotto nuove e ulteriori misure per contenere e superare le imponenti conseguenze prodotte dall’emergenza epidemiologica in materia di crisi d’impresa e risanamento aziendale.
Congress originally conceived the new Subchapter V to “streamline the bankruptcy process by which small business debtors reorganize and rehabilitate their financial affairs.” The new Subchapter became effective on February 19, 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic began in earnest less than a month later. The pandemic caused Congress to almost triple the Subchapter V debt limit from approximately $2.7 million to $7.5 million. However, the increased debt limit will expire in March 2022 if Congress does not act to extend it.
The Court at first instance held that the Applicants failed to establish that the Company was insolvent. The key findings that informed the Associate Judge’s conclusions included the following:
- the funds that were available to the Company to pay its debts included funds in an offset account in the name of the director (and an account in the name of the director’s wife); and
- the Applicants’ claims were based on unreconciled accounts of the Company.
The Applicants were granted leave to appeal and appealed the decision of the Court a quo.
Ob verwahrte kryptobasierte Vermögenswerte bereits mit Hilfe von Art. 242 SchKG ausgesondert werden konnten, war in der Lehre bisher umstritten. Am 1. August 2021 ist nun Art. 242a SchKG in Kraft getreten, der Klarheit bei der Aussonderung kryptobasierter Vermögenswerte schafft.
Neu wird zudem mit Art. 242b SchKG ein gesetzlicher Anspruch für den Zugang zu Daten geschaffen, die sich in Gewahrsam der Konkursmasse befinden. Damit wurde ein weitgehend unbestrittenes Anliegen ins SchKG aufgenommen.
There has never been a more disruptive time for business. Brexit and the resultant uncertainty arising from the pandemic have dramatically impacted the business landscape over the last 18 months. No matter what the sector, and no matter how big or small the company, every business has been affected by COVID-19 in some way.
Introduction
Rather unfortunately, there are no statutory provisions available to a company to set aside a statutory demand. If a company is served with a statutory demand and disputes the alleged debt, save for agreeing with the alleged creditor not to present a winding-up petition, it has no alternative but to seek relief from the court and obtain an injunction restraining the presentation of a winding-up petition.