Introduction
The Sapin II Act of November 8 2016 amended the regime governing directors' liability in an insolvency scenario in order to encourage the recovery of honest directors of failed businesses.
A recent decision of the Slovak Courts suggest that if main proceedings have been opened in one member state and the debtor has assets in Slovakia, the insolvency practitioner in the main proceedings must act quickly and sell those assets before secondary proceedings are opened in Slovakia, otherwise he runs the risk of losing the assets to the secondary estate. Legal title to the assets must have passed to the buyer before the secondary proceedings are opened; it is not enough just for contracts to have been exchanged.
Admission de l’inscription définitive d’une hypothèque judiciaire provisoire malgré la liquidation judiciaire
Cass. Com, 3 mai 2016, n°14-21.556
Aux termes d’un arrêt de principe, la Cour de cassation entérine et confirme la possibilité pour le créancier disposant d’une hypothèque judiciaire provisoire, inscrite avant le jugement d’ouverture, de l’inscrire définitivement après la liquidation judiciaire du débiteur.
Europe has struggled mightily during the last several years to triage a long series of critical blows to the economies of the 28 countries that comprise the European Union, as well as the collective viability of eurozone economies. Here we provide a snapshot of some recent developments regarding insolvency, restructuring, and related issues in the EU.
Introduction
The ongoing financial crisis has not left France untouched. The number of company insolvencies rose considerably in 2013: while judicial rehabilitation proceedings remained stable, liquidation proceedings increased by 4% from 2012, and “safeguard” proceedings (a procedure inspired by “Chapter 11” proceedings in the United States) increased by 9%. Pre-insolvency proceedings such as judicially-supervised conciliation and ad hoc mediation reached an all-time high, 24% over 2012.
Order No. 2014-326 of March 12 (the "Order"), adopted pursuant to enabling legislation No. 2014-1 of January 2, significantly modernizes French distressed companies law.
The primary objective of the Order is to encourage recourse to mediation proceedings and conciliation proceedings, the efficiency and success of which have been demonstrated consistently in recent major financial restructurings.
SUMMARY
French bankruptcy law has been recently modified by Law no. 2012-346 of March 12, 2012 relating to protective measures (mesures conservatoires) applicable to safeguard, recovery and liquidation proceedings, and by Law no. 2012-387 of March 22, 2012 relating to the simplification and easing of administrative procedures.
(Cass. Com, Feb. 19, 2013, no. 12-13.662)
In the instant case, a lessee had been placed into receivership on September 27, 2010, and then into court-ordered liquidation on November 8, 2010. Subsequently, on December 28, 2010, the lessor had served the liquidator with notice of termination for nonpayment of the rents accrued since the opening of insolvency proceedings.
In France, when bankruptcy proceedings are instituted against a party involved in a pending arbitration it can result in conflicts between the applicable arbitration and insolvency rules. In that context, an arbitral tribunal sitting in France may be confronted with determining the extent to which they must defer to mandatory insolvency rules.