Background

The recent descision of BNY v Eurosail1 is an important modern descision on the blance sheet test for insolvency.

The Court of Appeal uses common law principles to allow direct enforcement.

The past eighteen months have seen a marked increase in the use of the Company Voluntary Arrangement (“CVA”) by retailers to reduce their lease liabilities and win the release of onerous parent company guarantees, with several high street names going through the process. Although this practice received cautious support from landlords, real concern continues to be voiced over the practice of “guarantee stripping”.

The Court of Appeal1 has ruled that foreign judgments in insolvency proceedings may be enforced by the English courts at common law, and that the ordinary principles which may prevent the enforcement of foreign judgments do not apply to insolvency judgments where the action from which the foreign judgment arises is integral to the collective nature of the insolvency proceedings.

Facts

In Lehman Brothers International (Europe)(in administration) v CRC Credit Fund Limited & Ors [2010] EWCA Civ 917 the Court of Appeal considered the first instance judgment of Mr Justice Briggs on the operation of the Client Money Rules (CASS) in relation to the insolvency of Lehman Brothers International (Europe)(LBIE).

On August 2, the English Court of Appeal handed down its judgment on the client money directions application made in the Administration of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (LBIE). The Court of Appeal overturned Mr. Justice Briggs’ High Court decision in part, holding unanimously that:

The Court of Appeal has published its decision on Lehman Brothers International Europe Limited's (LBIE) position in relation to client money it held at the time it went into administration. It:

The U.K. Court of Appeal (the “Court of Appeal”) on Aug. 2, 2010, handed down a long-awaited decision regarding an appeal related to the scope of, and eligibility to receive distributions from, the Lehman Brothers Europe (International) (“LBIE”) pool of client money. Lehman Bros. Int. (Europe) (In Administration) v CRC Credit Fund Ltd. & Ors, [2010] EWCA Civ 917 (appeal taken from the Chancery Division) (U.K.).

The summer months are upon us, and developments in insolvency law and practice continue apace. Since our Spring issue the courts have pronounced in a number of interesting cases. At the time of writing, the World Cup is underway – it would perhaps be remiss not to have some football flavour in this article, and so some observations on the plight of Portsmouth FC are appropriate (though saved till the end).

Successive notices of intention to appoint administrators: more than one moratorium?