Congil Construction Limited & Companies Acts: Mannion -v- Connolly & Anor [2013] IEHC 544
On the 28 November 2013 the High Court restricted two directors of an insolvent construction company, Congil Construction Limited, for a period of five years.
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.
In its decision in In re Davis Joinery Ltd [2013] IEHC 353, the High Court identified the difficulties that employees of corporate employers may face when their employer ceases trading without taking any steps to formally wind-up the company.
Borrowers are increasingly seeking to challenge or frustrate the validity of an appointment of a receiver on technical grounds. While each case will be determined on its own merits and facts, a recent decision of the High Court is illustrative of the Court’s attitude towards some such arguments.
The Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2013 (the “Act”) was signed into law on 24 December 2013 and has introduced what has become colloquially referred to as “examinership-lite”, or what it is hoped will be a new SME-friendly examinership regime. Examinership is the legal mechanism by which an ailing but potentially viable company can be rescued.
The Act introduces a number of amendments to existing company law legislation, the most significant of which alters the regime in respect of the role of the Circuit Court in the examinership process.
In the matter of Fuerta Limited, High Court, 22 January 2014
Judge: Mr. Justice Charleton
A recent decision of the High Court has highlighted the interesting area of law that applies when an application is made to wind up a company on the grounds that it is "just and equitable" to do so.
Last week the Court of Appeal finished hearing the long awaited and much anticipated appeal in Jervis and another v Pillar Denton Limited (Game Station) on the hotly contested issue of whether rent is payable as an administration expense. Depending on the decision of the appeal judges this case may trigger a dramatic shift in the way that rent arising during administration is currently treated.
Background
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.