The COVID-19 pandemic is upending economies globally, causing a wave of unexpected insolvencies. The businesses that remain standing may face the question: will my insolvency or that of my counterparty prevent me from resolving disputes by arbitration?

The short answer is no. However, depending on the jurisdiction, there will be some limitations on what can be decided by arbitration. We have therefore briefly summarized some of the issues and challenges that a party may face under US law in the context of an arbitration arising from its own or an opposing party’s insolvency.

Preventive Restructuring

In several Commonwealth jurisdictions, the corporate legislation allows creditors to petition a court to order the winding up of a debtor in circumstances where that debtor is unable to pay its debts as they fall due. Such legislation generally presumes that the debtor is insolvent if it has failed to comply with a statutory notice requiring the debtor to pay a certain debt within a given period of time (a statutory demand).

In an interesting case of intersection of insolvency and copyright laws, the Delhi High Court has held that the suit for alleged infringement of copyrights, arising out of and/or is in relation to the insolvency resolution plan of a corporate debtor must be adjudicated by the NCLT and that the proceedings in the Civil Court are barred. The suit was dismissed as not maintainable before the High Court in view of Sections 230 and 231 read with Section 60(5) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

The Supreme Court has provided much needed clarity on whether an insolvent company can commence its own adjudication.

In the construction industry, insolvencies are an all-too-common occurrence – as are contractual disputes. There has until now been uncertainty about how the two legal regimes operate together where an insolvent party seeks to adjudicate for the sums it believes it is owed. This uncertainty has now been resolved, with the Supreme Court confirming that an insolvent company can bring an adjudication.

The ‘new normal’ for Statutory Demands and Winding Up Petitions under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020

On 26 June 2020 the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 finally entered force. Now it is in its final form, Simon Newman and Christopher Pask of 1 Chancery Lane’s Property, Chancery & Commercial team will be providing their views on its provisions and their impact over a series of updates.

[2020] UKSC 25

Summary

Intro

The UK insolvency regime has changed. Our earlier alert set out a brief overview of the changes. This is note provides more detail and flags some practical steps that the suppliers of goods and services may wish to consider.

In a nutshell

This post provides a quick primer on the administrative expense claims. These claims are entitled to priority for actual and necessary goods and services supplied to a debtor in bankruptcy. For a claim to qualify for administrative expense status, a debtor must request that the claimant provide goods and services post-petition or induce the claimant to do so. The goods or services must result in a benefit to the bankruptcy estate. And the claimant bears the burden of proof that a claim qualifies for priority treatment under 11 U.S.C. § 503(b)(1)(A).