Key points

• The High Court struck out a claim by a liquidator who had already brought a claim arising from the same facts against the same defendants.

• The court relied on the fact that the economic benefit of pursuing the claim would accrue only to the liquidator.

The Facts

Key points

• To attribute a director’s fraud to a company, the company must be a one-man company

• A one-man company requires no innocent directors or shareholders

The Facts

Singularis Holdings Ltd (the “Company“) was set up to deal with the personal assets of Mr Al Sanea. Mr Sanea was at all the times the sole shareholder of the Company, though he was only one of a number of directors of the Company.

The facts

A liquidator pursued a claim against a former director of a company, that the transfer of the company’s trading inventory in satisfaction of money owed to the former director was a transaction at an undervalue and/or a preference.

An attempt was made to grant floating charge security over the inventory, which the court found was void as it was granted for existing liabilities, at a time when the company was insolvent, to a connected party.

The insolvency of Carillion has placed into sharp relief the difficulties faced by those both up and down the contractual chain for a construction project when one part of that chain becomes insolvent and the ultimate supplier of goods and materials on site has not been paid.

Key points

• Care should be taken to ensure that finance documents clearly and specifically set out the intention of the parties.

• Lenders should ensure that charges created in security documents are not invalidated or altered by provisions of other finance documents.

Facts

In January 2018 the English High Court considered whether it had jurisdiction under the Cross-Border Insolvency Regulations 2006 (CBIR) to extend a temporary stay on the commencement of enforcement action in respect of English law debt obligations owed by a foreign debtor so that in effect the stay became permanent, or whether such a permanent stay would breach the long established rule in Gibbs[1](whic

Briefings

A recent ruling by the English High Court in BILTA v RBS1, concerning EU Emissions Allowances (“EUAs” or “carbon-credits”) trading has re-opened the debate on when materials forming part of an internal investigation can benefit from litigation privilege. The decision further undermines the restrictive approach taken by Andrews J in SFO v ENRC2 when applying the “sole or dominant purpose test” to dual-purpose communications.

Background – Emissions Trading Fraud

Friendly societies, along with other mutual societies, are registered with and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 (the Act).

Capital Funding One Limited (the "Company") arranged short term bridging finance for borrowers who were unable to obtain loans from more conventional sources. The funding for these loans were obtained from King Street Bridging Limited ("King Street").

Statutory demands are a key asset in a lender’s arsenal when seeking to enforce under a guarantee. The mere threat of bankruptcy is often a powerful method of brining a reticent debtor to the table. Above all else, they are quick, simply and relatively inexpensive to present, often avoiding the need to bring proceedings against the debtor in court.