The 11 October 50-page judgment of Hildyard J in The joint administrators of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) v FR Acquisitions Corporation (Europe) and JFB Firth Rixson will interest not only those who deal with ISDA Master Agreements (who may want to read the entire judgment), but also many lawyers and financial and commercial institutions. This is because the events of default which it had to consider, and especially the meaning of the word “continuing” in this context, are relevant to bonds, loans and various commercial contracts.

Understanding limitation periods are of crucial importance in the construction industry, particularly when a contractor is faced with unpaid invoices for services or materials rendered. The Ontario Court of Appeal stepped back into the spotlight in this regard with its decision in Thermal Exchange Service Inc. v Metropolitan Toronto Condominium Corporation No. 1289, 2022 ONCA 186, in holding that a defendant's assurances may prolong the "discoverability" of a claim for non-payment.

Background

It has been just over a year since the introduction of Poland's new electronic insolvency procedure. The new procedure, introduced on 1 December 2021, is generally conducted via an online platform, the National Debtors’ Register, and has brought about a revolutionary change to Polish insolvency procedure.

Positive developments

• Faster access to the court - Documents filed on the online platform are instantly disclosed to the judge and to the other parties involved. The court’s decisions are also delivered quickly to the parties.

Background

Under Dutch law, the directors of a (private) company can be held personally liable by the trustee for the bankruptcy deficit. Liability can arise when the directors have manifestly performed their management duties improperly and if it is reasonable to assume that bankruptcy was declared as a result. Section 2:248(4) of the Dutch Civil Code (DCC) contains a list of grounds for reducing the amount of the directors’ liability.

Decision

In brief

The UK Supreme Court has handed down its long-awaited judgment in relation to the case of BTI 2014 LLC (Appellant) v. Sequana SA and others (Respondents) [2022] UKSC 25, concerning the duty of directors of a company registered under the Companies Act 2006 to consider (and act in accordance with) the interests of the company's creditors.

Contents

The United Kingdom Supreme Court has just released an important insolvency judgment in BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana SA [2022] UKSC 25 (Sequana), which concerns when and the extent to which directors of a company must consider the interests of creditors.

The United Kingdom Supreme Court has just released an important insolvency judgment in BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana SA [2022] UKSC 25 (Sequana), which concerns when and the extent to which directors of a company must consider the interests of creditors.

Bankruptcy benefits for individual debtors are a tough sell—always have been.  That’s because no one likes bankruptcy—unless they need it.

But relieving people from debts in unfortunate circumstances is essential to our collective way of life in these United States.  That’s always been true.

What follows is the first of three installments on some history of bankruptcy laws through the ages, beginning with ancient times—and to the present in these United States.

Ancient Days

The bankruptcy court presiding over the Chapter 11 cases of digital asset platform Celsius Network LLC and its affiliates (Celsius) issued a key ruling on January 4, 2023 (the Decision), by concluding that a significant portion of digital assets held in Celsius’ customer accounts are property of the debtors’ estates, and holders of such accounts accordingly are unsecured creditors.

When a company files for bankruptcy protection, Section 541 of the Bankruptcy Code creates an estate comprised of "all legal and equitable interest of the debtor in property." On July 15, 2022, Celsius Network LLC filed for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. At the time, it had approximately 600,000 accounts in its "Earn Program" which allowed account holders to earn interest on certain cryptocurrency deposits. These "Earn Accounts" held over $4 billion in cryptocurrency assets.