A recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal invalidated an arbitration and forum selection clause in a commercial agreement in favour of having a dispute between the debtor and its former customer adjudicated within a receivership proceeding.

An exclusive jurisdiction clause (EJC) is a clause in a contract limiting the determination of disputes under that contract to one agreed jurisdiction or forum. It has been unclear whether an EJC could be relied upon to dispute a debt in the context of bankruptcy proceedings. It is trite that a bona fide dispute on the debt on substantial grounds is sufficient for a bankruptcy or winding-up petition to fail.

This week’s TGIF examines Sentinel Orange Homemaker Pty Ltd v Davis Investment Group Holdings Pty Ltd (in liquidation) (No 2) [2022] NSWSC 1171 where a court considered an application for non-party costs orders against a litigation funder and the liquidator of an insolvent defendant.

Key takeaways

In significant news for the insolvency industry, the High Court will hear the long-awaited Gunns Group preference claim appeal in Bryant & Ors v Badenoch Integrated Logging (A10/2022) on 18 October 2022.

Johnson Winter & Slattery act for PwC, the appellant liquidators of the Gunns group, in the proceeding.

Briefly stated, the grounds for the appeal are:

Two recent cases examine whether, given the impossibility to liquidate a company due to a corporate deadlock, a court can invalidate certain resolutions at the request of one shareholder.

BITE SIZE KNOW HOW FROM THE ENGLISH COURTS

Injunctions

On September 19, 2022, a panel of three appellate judges for the 3rd Circuit heard oral argument in a closely-watched case, In re LTL Management LLC, Case No. 22-2003.

As another Irish Court year will soon commence, now is an opportune time to look back at some of the more interesting insolvency and restructuring judgments to have been delivered in the Superior Courts during the last 12 months.

The judgments explored below will prove of relevance and importance to practitioners and clients navigating distressed corporates and assets over the coming weeks and years. Please do get in touch with your Walkers Ireland Insolvency and Dispute Resolution contact or any of the contacts listed below with any comments or queries.

The Polyvocal Court

In New York, it is a standard practice to name all tenants residing in a building when foreclosing upon the property.