A former director of Custom House Capital Limited (CHC) was recently found by the High Court to have fraudulently misrepresented to an investor that her €145,000 investment in the company was “safe” a year before CHC's collapse.

In March 2010 Ms Tressan Scott entered into a Subordinated Loan Agreement with CHC pursuant to which she loaned the sum of €145,000 to CHC. At the time the agreement was signed, Ms Scott was recovering from treatment for Lymphoma.

On 22 January 2014 the High Court ordered the winding up of a property company, Fuerta Limited, on the unusual ground that it was just and equitable to do so. Resort to this ground for winding up is usually reserved for the most intractable of situations and it is thought to be the first time the Court has done so on foot of a creditor petition.  

Insolvency practitioners are routinely asked to adjudicate on claims to retention of title of goods supplied. This task often involves an analysis of whether the goods in question have become fixed to land, irreversibly mixed with other goods or whether they remain as identifiable items.

In the recent case of Re Moormac Developments Limited (in receivership)[1], the High Court gave further clarity to this area of the law.

This update focusses upon two recent High Court decisions dealing with (respectively) the ability of the court to retrospectively extend court-appointed receiverships, and the issue of whether COMI had shifted to England for a German national seeking bankruptcy here.

Extension of court-appointed receiverships

The case of Bank of Ireland v (1) Edeneast (2) Cosgrove and (3) Maguire (17/09/2013) concerned an application by the bank to retrospectively continue and extend the appointment of a courtappointed receiver.

A number of recent High Court decisions suggest an increase in the number of interlocutory applications being brought by receivers seeking to obtain vacant possession of the properties over which they have been appointed.

On 23 August 2013, the High Court granted the petition of Bank of Ireland to have Brian O’Donnell and his wife, Mary Patricia O’Donnell adjudicated bankrupt.  One of the issues before the Court was the appropriate date for determining the centre of main interests (COMI) of a debtor.  Two possibilities were put forward: (i) the date of presentation of the bankruptcy petition to the Examiner’s Office of the High Court; or (ii) the date of the hearing of the application by the High Court.

The Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 was signed into law by the President on 24 July 2013.  While certain sections of the Act commenced immediately on its signing into law, other provisions have yet to be commenced by ministerial order.

A summary of the key changes brought about by the Act are set out below.

Increase in the Monetary Jurisdiction of District and Circuit Courts

The Act increases the monetary jurisdiction of:

There have been a number of recent cases where companies have sought a reduction in their share capital by way of a High Court sanctioned process. One such case involving Aer Lingus raised interesting issues about the status of pension fund shortfalls as liabilities of the employer company as Emmet Scully and Jennifer McGuire report.

In a reduction of capital application, the High Court’s primary concern is whether the company’s creditors would be prejudiced by the reduction of capital.

The High Court has made an order disqualifying the two directors of Mossway Limited (In Liquidation) for a period of 12 months.

Background

The principal business of the company had been the provision of haulage services with a warehousing and distribution facility. On 3 June 2011, the Revenue Commissioners presented a petition to wind up the company on the basis that it was unable to pay its debts as they fell due. The Court made the order sought and appointed an Official Liquidator.

The Foley’s/O’Reilly’s bar saga, which played out over a nine month period ending in July 2013, resulted in numerous court applications, three written judgments of the High Court and the appointment at various stages of receivers, interim examiners, examiners and liquidators to the companies involved.

Receivership