In May 2017, the Irish Government signed a commencement order giving immediate effect to the ‘Alternative A’ insolvency remedy of the Aircraft Protocol to the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (the Convention). The long-awaited implementation of ‘Alternative A’ gives force of law in Ireland to a regime which is similar to the insolvency regime in the USA, known as Chapter 11 “reorganisation” bankruptcy. The insolvency remedies in the Convention were designed to strengthen creditor’s positions.

Further evidence that Ireland is emerging from economic recession can be seen in the publication of the Courts Service Annual Report 2016 (the Report). An examination of the Report’s figures relating to debt collection activity shows a continuing decline in creditor litigation and enforcement. The number of default judgments marked in 2016 across the District, Circuit and High Courts shows a fall to 10,475 from 14,204 during the previous year. This represents almost an 80% drop on the equivalent number of such judgments marked in 2010.

Introduction

Introduction

With the commencement of the Companies Accounting Act 2017 (“2017 Act”) on 9 June 2017, the priority of charges in liquidations has been dramatically altered.

Judicial Development

The High Court recently rejected an appeal by KBC Bank Ireland (“KBC”) to write down a portion of a debtor couple’s mortgage due to the uncertainty in the ability of the debtors to repay the warehousing portion of the loan. The Personal Insolvency Arrangement (“PIA”) which had been approved by the Circuit Court was upheld.

In this regular briefing, we summarise recent cases, developments and trends relevant to the ongoing efforts to resolve the mortgage arrears crisis.

CASELAW

Personal Insolvency

A series of recent cases have shed further light on factors that a Court will take into account when hearing a debtor’s appeal of a secured creditor’s decision to reject a proposed Personal Insolvency Arrangement (PIA) under the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 (the 2012 Act).

The High Court in Re: Callaghan (Unreported, High Court, Baker J., 22 May 2017) [2017] IEHC 325 has rejected a lender’s proposal to deal with outstanding mortgage debt on the principal private residence of a debtor.

The Debt

In the recent decision of Re JD (a debtor), the High Court upheld a debtor’s challenge to a lender’s decision to reject a Personal Insolvency Agreement (“PIA”) proposal.

Section 115A of the Personal Insolvency Acts 2012- 2015 (“the Acts”) provides a new mechanism by which a debtor may seek the Court’s approval of a PIA notwithstanding its rejection by creditors.

This case is particularly significant as:

The Irish High Court has recently ruled on the test for determining whether the transfer of a debt is a "true sale" or is by way of a charge. It has, helpfully, adopted the well-established test taken in a long line of English cases which emphasises that the legal form of the contract adopted by the parties will determine its nature, provided the contract is not a "sham".

The High Court has refused a challenge by a liquidator to an invoice discounting agreement entered into by the Company prior to liquidation.

The liquidator argued that the invoice discounting agreement was in fact a loan agreement under which the Bank took a charge over the Company’s book debts. If that was the case, then those funds would be funds in the liquidation and the Bank an unsecured creditor, because the loan agreement was not registered and therefore void as against the liquidator.