The Department for BEIS has recently published a consultation to the UK's insolvency and corporate governance landscape including significant proposals to extend the liability of directors of holding companies that sell insolvent subsidiaries. 

The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court decision granting a non-party costs order against an insolvent company’s director and majority shareholder. The court cited the claimant’s failure to warn the non-party of its intention to seek such an order as fatal to the application: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC v WPMC Ltd (in liquidation) [2018] EWCA Civ 2005.

Unlawful Means Conspiracy

Ashfords successfully acted for the Joint Trustees in Bankruptcy of Vincent Mascarenhas (deceased) in their application to discharge Freezing Orders, an Interim Charging Order and an Interim Third Party Debt Order obtained by creditors of the late Bankrupt in 2014. The Joint Trustees were not a party to the original proceedings but had standing to make the applications.

It’s been reported that the board of directors of AIM-listed Patisserie Holdings plc, which owns the Patisserie Valerie chain of cafés, was not aware for almost a month that HMRC had filed a petition at the High Court of England and Wales to wind up its main trading subsidiary, Stonebeach Limited.

A recent High Court case (Fairhold Securitisation Limited v Clifden IOM No 1 Ltd) has affirmed that in debt issuances involving a trustee, noteholders have only limited rights to take direct enforcement action. The case confirmed that:

Paul Muscutt, London restructuring partner at law firm Squire Patton Boggs, talks to Andrew Tate, former R3 President, Chair of R3’s Policy Group and Partner at accountancy firm Kreston Reeves LLP, about conflicts of interest in the restructuring and insolvency profession*.

Recently, there have been a number of high profile insolvencies hitting the headlines with a number of High Street retailers entering insolvency either by proposing a company voluntary administration (“CVA”) or via another formal insolvency process. With the recent number of high profile insolvencies there has been scrutiny of directors’ duties not only by media but also at government level.

The Facts

Following a statutory demand for unpaid council tax in the sum of £8,067, a bankruptcy petition was presented against Ms Harriet Lock. The council provided Ms Lock with evidence of the council tax liability orders confirming the debt. Ms Lock provided evidence in response, which explained that she was living in social housing and was financially dependent on her daughter. At a first hearing, the court adjourned and ordered that Ms Lock provide a skeleton argument to explain why a bankruptcy order should not be made.

Every now and again our clients find themselves faced with a claim, or the threat of a claim, arising out of a construction contract where the party claiming money is in liquidation. In these circumstances it can be difficult to explain that a party in liquidation has no right to adjudicate a claim given that the right to adjudicate a dispute under a construction contract arises, according to the Construction Act, “at any time”. Hopefully any uncertainty surrounding this issue has now been finally resolved.