The UK High Court today took a crucial step towards resolving the difficult issue of when administrators must pay rent.

Judgment date: 28 June 2013

Solicitor struck off for disgraceful conduct unconnected to professional duties

M, a solicitor, was struck off the Roll of Solicitors by the Solicitor’s Disciplinary Tribunal (the Tribunal) following a finding that he was guilty of disgraceful conduct.

The Landlords of units occupied by Game have been given permission by the Court to appeal to the Court of appeal against the principles laid down in Goldacre (Offices) Ltd v Nortel Networks UK Ltd (In Administration) [2009] EWHC 3389 (Ch) [2010] Ch 455 that rent falling due before the commencement of an administration does not fall to be paid as an expense of the administration.

A look at the recent restructuring of the Co-operative Bank and EU proposals for mandatory reform

The Co-operative Bank announced in mid-June that it would need to carry out a forced listing of £300m new shares on the London Stock Exchange to fill a capital hole of around £1.5bn. Co-op's difficulties are said to have been triggered by mounting losses at Britannia Building Society - which Co-Op acquired in 2009 - that were highlighted when the bank failed to follow through on its planned acquisition of 632 Lloyds branches in February this year.

The insolvency of the borrower is a standard event of default in facility agreements. As well as covering the borrower's cash flow insolvency, these clauses also often cover other, earlier signs of distress. Two recent cases have seen lenders try to exploit these outer reaches of their insolvency event of default clauses. Hayley Çapani and Adam Pierce explain why these cases are significant for parties negotiating new deals, and for lenders considering their enforcement options on existing deals.

Negotiations with creditors for rescheduling

HMRC v SED Essex Limited

In HMRC v SED Essex Limited [2013] EWHC 1583(Ch) the High Court has confirmed that the Court will, in appropriate cases, uphold the appointment of provisional liquidators where the petition debt is based on allegations of fraud. The case sets out the court’s approach to disputed debts, VAT assessments, and provisional liquidation in order to preserve evidence as well as assets and the application of the guidance from the Court of Appeal in Rochdale Drinks.

What the case decided and why it matters

1,300 solicitors firms are facing the prospect of having to find alternative insurance following the decision by the Latvian Financial and Capital Markets Commission to withdraw the operating licences for insurer Balva. According the press release on the FCMC's website, Balva must now launch a winding-up process by appointing a liquidator but all its insurance policies are still effective.

The UK's bank regulatory and insolvency law structures were unprepared for the global financial crisis. As a result, the UK government's response to intense bank stress in the immediate aftermath of the crunch led to a number of somewhat unsatisfactory ad hoc solutions ranging from nationalisations to encouraging otherwise healthy institutions to take over weaker banks. Generally speaking, there was a criticism, fairly made perhaps, that profits were privatised and losses had been socialised.

Eastman Kodak is in the process of emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States. A key part of the process has been the settlement of the $2.8 billion claim by Eastman Kodak’s UK subsidiary pension fund, the Kodak Pension Plan. This has involved the sale of 2 businesses to the Kodak Pension Plan for a total of $325 million in return for a discharge from liability to the Plan. These businesses were valued at $650 million.

In the recent UK case of Williams v Glover & Anor, the Court considered the novel issue of whether the right to appeal against a tax liability constitutes the "property" of a company in liquidation, in deciding whether such a right was assignable or not. In that case, the applicant liquidator sought directions as to whether it could assign the right to appeal against an assessment of tax liability to the respondent former directors of the company in liquidation. Judge Pelling QC held that while there were authorities that had considered this point, they were not binding.