24 February 2014
[2014] EWCA Civ 180
Court of Appeal (Patten, Lewison and Sharp LJJ)

The fact that rent payable in advance had fallen due prior to the tenant company entering administration did not prevent that that rent being payable an expense of the liquidation of the tenant company under the salvage/Lundy Granite principle.  The amount of rent so payable was a question of fact.

28 February 2014
[2014] EWHC 540 (Ch)
Companies Court (Etherton C)

When is a company’s property not its property?

10 February 2014
[2014] EWHC 229 (Ch)
Chancery Division (Etherton C)

A deputy registrar was wrong to dismiss a discharged bankrupt’s annulment application when the only creditor had decided not to prove for its debt.  The deputy register also erred in his approach to the TIB’s application to change the basis of his remuneration.

03 April 2014
[2014] EWCA Civ 383
Court of Appeal (Sullivan, McFarlane and Lewison LJJ)

Further guidance from the Court of Appeal on the meaning of insolvency and the relationship between the cash flow and the balance sheet tests.  A company that can only pay its debts as they fall due by incurring further debt is still insolvent. 

The courts have been busy in recent months considering various schemes of arrangement and reconstructions, including the following 4 unusual and high-profile applications.

In the matter of Co-operative Bank plc

18 December 2013

Companies Court (David Richards J)

[2014] EWHC 4397 (Ch)

21 January 2014
[2014] EWCA Civ 26
Court of Appeal (Arden, Sullivan and Davis LJJ)

Following suspension of IVAs, all creditors were bound by varied IVAs approved at a further creditors' meeting directed by the court, even if they had become creditors after the initial suspension.

07 March 2014
[2014] EWCA Civ 215
Court of Appeal, Civil Division (Patten, Lewison and Sharp LJJ)

The Court of Appeal, reversing the first instance decision, held that moneys paid to an agent after the agent’s insolvency were available for agent’s creditors generally and were not held on trust for the principal.

Key point

Under English law it is now clear that, in order to trace monies through bank accounts, it is not necessary that payments should occur in any specific order. 

The facts

Introduction In the case of Rawlinson & Hunter Trustees SA v Akers & Another¹ the Court of Appeal considered the parameters of litigation privilege, providing a useful reminder of how narrow the protection is and the care that must be taken in relation to the production of documents by third parties where a dispute is, or may be, on the horizon.

Key point

The UK Government has published its response to their July 2013 consultation on restoring transparency and trust in the UK corporate governance regime. There are a number of proposals to widen the scope of the director disqualification regime and make recovery of losses by creditors from responsible directors easier.

The response