The current position

On 13 November 2015, the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Introduction of Amendments and Supplements to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Issues of Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy” (the “Law”) was signed and its provisions were put into effect on 29 November 2015.

Article 295 of the Jordanian Commerce Law 1966 allows a merchant on the verge of bankruptcy to avoid bankruptcy and gain protection from creditors executing judgments against the merchant by initiating a court-sponsored settlement process with the creditors (‘preventive composition’).

Bisson -v- Barker, P. Bish, H. Bish and Viscount 2008 JLR N[46]

This decision addresses the court's powers to order the winding up of a company on just and equitable grounds pursuant to Article 155 of the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991.
The company in question (the "Company") had operated two businesses in the Island. Relations between certain of the shareholders, involved in the management of the two businesses, broke down, such that it became impossible for them to continue to work together.

The Viscount

We have recently prepared a study on court practice in Latvia in board liability cases. A short summary of our main findings appears below.

Lietuvos Aukščiausiasis Teismas toliau formuoja praktiką dėl kreditorių teisėtų interesų apsaugos. 2017 m. gegužės 4 d. išnagrinėtoje byloje Nr. 3K-3-211-469/2017 buvo sprendžiama dėl bendrovės vadovo ir jos akcininko civilinės atsakomybės, kreditoriui jiems pareiškus tiesioginį ieškinį.

On 12 May 2017, the Supreme Court of Lithuania issued a ruling, which further contributes to the case-law concerning setting of the procedure and price of the realisation of assets with regard to a bankrupt company. The ruling recognises that, in certain exceptional cases, a decision on the price and procedure for the realisation of assets may be made by a court independently and in disregard of the principle of autonomy of the creditors’ meeting of a bankrupt company.

In practice there a numerous uncertainties in relation to civil liability of management bodies of companies, scope of such liability, and related matters. On 4 April 2017, considering the current situation, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania (the Supreme Court or SC) published the first overview of case law in relation to application of the norms of civil law regulating civil liability of management bodies of companies in the case law of the Supreme Court.

Generally speaking, wrongful trading is the special form of liability where a director of a company is liable for damages towards the creditors for the mismanagement of an insolvent company.

A special feature of the institution of wrongful trading is, that it may give rise not only to the liability of the director of the company but also to the liability of the director, management, employee of the parent company or even of the grandparent company (so called shadow director).

Introduction

In November 2014 OW Bunker – one of the world's largest bunker suppliers and traders – filed for in-court restructuring for major parts of its business. This triggered a number of cases involving shipowners or operators that had contracted with OW, but had been physically supplied bunkers by a third party. In such cases, shipowners are at risk of having to pay their bunker debts twice if the physical supplier fails to receive payment under its supply contract with OW.