Highlights

The Supreme Court held Section 363(m) is only a “statutory limitation” to accessing appellate relief in disputed bankruptcy sales that requires parties to take certain procedural steps to be effective

The Supreme Court also addressed mootness arguments and held that as long as parties have a concrete interest, however small, in the outcome of an appeal, the appeal should remain alive

The ruling provides insight as to how the Supreme Court may tackle the controversial doctrine of “equitable mootness”

In the recent case of MDSA Resources Sdn Bhd v Adrian Sia Koon Leng [2023] 3 CLJ 191 the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court decision in, among others, dismissing the Appellant’s application for sanction of a scheme of arrangement made pursuant to section 366(4) of the Companies Act 2016 (“CA 2016”).

Background Facts

Bed Bath & Beyond, the home goods retailer, has filed bankruptcy under Chapter 11 and plans to conduct liquidation sales and close all of its brick-and-mortar stores by June 30, as reported by The New York Times. The retailer points to an inability to adjust to the growth of online shopping as a reason for its downfall.

The Hong Kong High Court has found that cryptocurrencies are property in a landmark case, further boosting the city’s virtual asset industry and its ambition to become the Asian crypto hub.

Colorado just became the latest state to recognize that a borrower’s bankruptcy discharge does not accelerate secured installment debt or trigger the final statute of limitations period to recover the debt.

Although in the Ninth Circuit the decision to revisit an order under FRCP 60 is “highly discretionary,” judges still must explicitly grapple with the relevant factors. That was the clear message sent by Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. of the Northern District of California when reviewing an appeal from the PG&E Corporation’s chapter 11 bankruptcy.

German real estate group restructuring plan sanctioned in London

Having failed to get its restructuring solution through in its home jurisdiction, beleaguered German real estate group, Adler, turned to London. After substituting a UK plc as issuer of six series of notes in order to propose an English restructuring plan, and in the face of fierce opposition from an ad hoc committee of 2029 noteholders (AHG), the group successfully forced the plan through just in time.

Following are our summaries of the civil decisions of the Ontario Court of Appeal for the week of April 24, 2023.

Yesterday saw the end of a three-day sanction hearing for the restructuring plan (the “Plan”) of the Great Annual Savings (GAS) company, with Justice Adam Johnson reserving his judgment and importantly, his decision on whether to exercise cross-class-cram-down to sanction the Plan for a later date.

Could a director of an insolvent company, who was held to be in breach of his directorial duties, be ordered to draw down his personal pension benefits to pay a judgment debt?