This Act received Royal Assent in July 2007 but no date for implementation has been published yet.
In addition to the provisions contained in this Act aimed at improving the working of the tribunals system and increasing judicial diversity, are several sections that will be of interest to financiers and insolvency professionals:
During contract negotiations parties usually agree what law and which courts will determine any disputes arising from that contract. This brings certainty for the parties. However that certainty can vanish if one party is a foreign registered company and becomes insolvent – the other party may suddenly become exposed to unexpected foreign insolvency law. At this point, the drafting of a jurisdiction clause can be worth millions.
This is the situation in the recent case of Global Maritime Investments Cyprus Limited v O.W. Supply & Trading A/S [2015] EWHC 2690 (Comm).
The past several years have not been kind to commodities exploration companies. The price of gold dropped to $1,051/oz. in November 2015, a level that had not been seen since 2009. Although the price of gold rebounded somewhat in January and February 2016 to just over $1,200/oz., the price has steadily decreased after peaking at $1,921/oz. in August 2011. The price of silver has also decreased dramatically, with its price off 60% from the 2011 highs. Copper has not escaped this trend, and was recently selling for just over half of its 2011 price.
The Macron law of 7 August 2015, named after the current Minister of the Economy, anticipated the establishment of specialised commercial courts which will process the most complex insolvency proceedings. Currently, any of the 134 French commercial courts can be applied to; the choice being mainly the location of the distressed company’s headquarters. This new arrangement aims to improve efficiency and to increase the number of specialised judges (because in France, commercial judges are lay judges). The aim of the reform is to save jobs.
The English High Court has, in one of the few successful cases on wrongful trading, clarified when directors ought to know that there is no reasonable prospect of avoiding insolvent liquidation and where the burden of proof lies in such cases.
Background
Over the last seven months there has been a spate of cases dealing with the relationship between arbitration law and insolvency law.
Winding-up petitions and arbitration clauses
On April 16, 2015, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) provided guidance on the interpretation of Article 13 of the EC Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings (the “Regulation”) in the case Lutz v Bäuerle – C-557/13.
Suppliers of good and services (“trade creditors”) generally have no duty to determine whether their customers are operating an illegal enterprise. However a recent Fifth Circuit opinion presents an unprecedented “claw-back” risk facing trade creditors who unknowingly provide goods and services to a “Ponzi-scheme” enterprise.
The Janvey Opinion
Creditors frustrated by cost and time delays in cross border disputes, as well as from unscrupulous delaying tactics by debtors, will have some comfort in the form of the revised EU Judgments Regulation. The revised Regulation came into force on 10 January 2015 and aims to resolve cross-border legal disputes more easily, bringing huge cost savings to creditors.
All bankruptcy practitioners know that a debtor may choose which contracts to assume and which contracts to reject. But may a debtor reject contracts that are part of an overall, integrated transaction? In a recent bankruptcy decision, the court found the answer to be no, at least if the parties are careful in drafting their contracts.