The Court of Appeal has recently referred to established case law that the court will only interfere with the act of an officeholder “if he has done something so utterly unreasonable and absurd that no reasonable man would have done it”.
While the judge in the lower court had not made any error of law, on the facts there were identifiable flaws in the judge's reasoning that the trustees' decision not to join in the proceedings was perverse.
The judge had failed to recognise that:
In NSP Unsgaard (Pty) Ltd v Master of the High Court, Cape Town and Another, the applicant, NSP Unsgaard (Pty) Ltd sought to review and set aside a decision of the first respondent, the Master of the High Court made on 28 January 2022 in terms of section 46 of the Insolvency Act,1936 (“the Act”). The decision in question permitted the liquidators of the second respondent, Green Tissue (Pty) Ltd ), to disregard a set off applied by NSP in its dealings with Green Tissue before the latter’s liquidation.
Judgment creditors should be aware that the English Court of Appeal has given guidance on the proper construction of s423 Insolvency Act 1986 (transactions defrauding creditors)1.
INTRODUCTION:
In a recent judgement of Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. v. Raman Ispat Private Ltd. and Ors. (being Civil Appeal No.7976 of 2019), the Hon’ble Supreme Court has held that Section 238 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“IBC/Code”) overrides the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003, despite the latter containing two specific provisions being Section 173 and 174 which have overriding effect over all other laws.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND:
Following are this week’s summaries of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of September 4, 2023.
In AssessNet Inc. v. Ferro Estate, the Court set aside an order dismissing the action, finding that the summary judgment motion judge had erred in determining the issue of discoverability of a claim against a trustee in bankruptcy.
Torgersrud v Lightstone is a family law decision where the Court dismissed an appeal from an order setting aside a marriage contract entered into in Quebec in 1988.
Restructuring plans can provide companies in the early stages of financial difficulty with a flexible alternative to entering a formal insolvency procedure
Under Part 26A of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006), companies or groups encountering financial difficulties affecting their ability to carry on business can propose a compromise or arrangement (a restructuring plan) which mitigates or eliminates the effects of those financial difficulties.
Currently, Ukrainian legislation does not provide for a separate “pre-pack proceeding” as outlined in the draft EU directive for harmonising insolvency law (“Directive Proposal”). However, selling a business is a legally feasible option under the Ukrainian Bankruptcy Code and related laws, both in a pre-bankruptcy phase and during bankruptcy proceeding.
In BRASS Trustees Ltd v Goldstone the High Court has approved a decision by a scheme trustee to issue winding up petitions against the pension scheme's sponsoring employers. The trustee sought the court's approval under rules which allow a trustee to seek the court's approval where the decision a trustee is about to make is "particularly momentous".
‘Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here’[1] — John J Ray III
The recent failure of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange highlights the need for investors and market participants to do their due diligence when it comes to corporate governance. Assumptions around the competency of individual directors and the corporate governance standards in various jurisdictions left some FTX investors writing off hundreds of millions of dollars invested in FTX.