Administrators of Arena Television are reportedly investigating an alleged fraud involving millions of pandemic loans, where government-backed loans were offered to businesses to help them deal with the pandemic, and are suing two of the directors for breach of fiduciary duty. More companies may be in a similar position as, according to the National Audit Office, it is likely that the level of fraud in the bounce back loan scheme ranges from £3.5bn to £4.9bn. Who can claim these ill-gotten gains?

Directors’ duties

In John Doyle Construction v Erith Contractors, the Court of Appeal has further considered the interrelation of insolvency and adjudication, providing guidance on the circumstances in which an adjudication award might be enforceable by a company in liquidation.

The key takeaways

Jurisdiction

Peter Ferrer, Harneys

This is an extract from the 2022 edition of GRR's the Americas Restructuring Review. The whole publication is available here.

In summary

In the October 2021 edition of IBA Insolvency and Restructuring International, Peter Hayden and Jonathan Moffatt explain recent decisions in the UK and the Cayman Islands on the narrowing of the rule in Prudential and its implications for shareholders and creditors considering litigation.

Introduction

This year’s 1 Chancery Lane Autumn Bumper Briefing takes as its theme – what else? – Covid-19 and its consequences. Some two years after the virus was first identified, and just over eighteen months since the first lockdown began, the courts are starting to deal with cases arising out of the pandemic and the measures taken to contain it.

In CPS v Aquila Advisory Ltd [2021] UKSC 49, the Supreme Court has re-affirmed the existing law on illegality and attribution of directors’ wrongdoing to their companies, while providing helpful guidance and clarification on aspects of the law relating to fiduciary duty, constructive trusts, attribution, and illegality.

The case of John Doyle Construction Ltd v Erith Contractors Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 1452 (07 October 2021) saw the Court of Appeal re-explore the conflict between the adjudication process and insolvency following the Supreme Court decision ofBresco Electrical Services Ltd v Michael J Lonsdale Ltd.

Judgment was given by the Court of Appeal yesterday (7th October) in John Doyle Construction Limited (In Liquidation) v Erith Contractors Limited. This important case considered the relationship between adjudication and insolvency proceedings in the context of applications to enforce an adjudicator's decision. The underlying contract between JDC and Erith had related to hard landscaping works at the London Olympic park in Stratford.

The High Court has set out the principles that apply to the construction of questions in an insurer’s automated online underwriting system and the circumstances in which an insurer’s questions may lead to waiver of the right to be told about certain information. In this case, the Court considered the construction and scope of the insurer’s standard question concerning previous insolvencies, and held that the wording used waived the insurer’s right to be told about other insolvency events not caught by the question.

Background

PH Insight for News and Analysis of the Latest Developments from the Courts of England and Wales for August 2021

In this edition. . .