In April, we discussed how Colorado’s state supreme court issued its highly anticipated decision confirming a borrower’s bankruptcy discharge does not accelerate secured installment debt or trigger the final statute of limitations period to recover the debt.
On July 13, 2023, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Certain Issues of Proceedings and Application of Bankruptcy Procedures During Martial Law” No. 2911-IX (hereinafter referred to as the Law).
On July 26, 2023, the Law was signed by the President of Ukraine. The Law enters into force on the day following its publication.
There are certain circumstances where liquidators can be held personally liable for costs orders made in proceedings taken by them.
Under the so called “Ballyrider Principles[1]”:
Het faillissement van Heiploeg uit 2014 is een bron van principiële geschillen en procedures. Deze Heiploeg-uitspraak werpt de vraag op onder welke voorwaarden een (door de Europese Commissie) aan Heiploeg opgelegde kartelboete kan worden verhaald op een (in dit geval gewezen) bestuurder. In de literatuur is vanuit meerdere invalshoeken de nodige aandacht besteed aan de mogelijkheid om op grond van het mededingingsrecht een boete op te leggen aan bestuurders en andere feitelijk leidinggevenden.
On 5 July 2023 the Court sanctioned Prezzo Investco Ltd's (Prezzo) restructuring plan despite strong opposition by UK tax authority, HMRC.
HMRC has taken a more active approach to opposing restructuring plans and was successful in blocking the plans recently proposed by GAS and Nasmyth (see our alert).
In figures released on Friday 28 July 2023 from the Insolvency Service, the total number of registered company insolvencies in England and Wales during Q2 2023 was 6,342, the highest since Q2 2009 and up by 9% compared to Q1 2023. The construction industry was again the hardest hit (a trend going back over a decade). Whilst more construction companies went into administration during Q2 compared to Q1, significantly higher numbers went quietly into liquidation during the same period, at an average rate of around 11 per day.
In this Part of the 2023 edition of R+I In Brief, we delve into significant judicial developments relating to insolvency law, including:
Section 544(b)(1) of the Bankruptcy Code enables a trustee to step into the shoes of a creditor and avoid a transfer “of an interest of the debtor in property” that an unsecured creditor could avoid under applicable state law. See 11 U.S.C. § 544(b)(1). Thus, for example, if outside of bankruptcy a creditor could avoid a transaction entered by a debtor as a fraudulent transfer, in bankruptcy, the trustee acquires the power to avoid such a transaction.
In a challenging economic climate, we usually see an increase in leases ending prematurely, either by agreement or by landlords irritating (forfeiting) the lease when they are faced with an insolvent tenant or bad payers. Tenants in these circumstances will often leave behind goods and equipment. The temptation for landlords is just to throw the stuff away so they can re-let but there are restrictions on what a landlord can and can't do with abandoned goods in Scotland.
What should you do if a tenant leaves goods behind at the premises (tenant not insolvent)?
In May I wrote about a manufacturer of Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) excused from the PFAS Multi-District Litigation in South Carolina because its PFAS-related liabilities might exceed its assets which is something for a Federal Bankruptcy Court to sort out. At the time I worried that this was only one of many PFAS-related bankruptcies we would be seeing