Jackson urges government to end insolvency litigation exemption from his reforms –

‘Lord Justice Jackson has called for the recently extended exemption for insolvency cases from the impact of his reforms to come to an end, describing recoverability as “an instrument of oppression, which is liable to crush defendants who have a good defence”.’

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Litigation Futures, 20th October 2015

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Jackson: drop ‘oppressive’ exemption to my rules – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted October 21st, 2015 in bankruptcy, civil justice, civil procedure rules, costs, insolvency, news by sally

‘Lord Justice Jackson has urged the government to ditch one of the final exemptions to his civil justice reforms.’

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Law Society’s Gazette, 19th October 2015

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Finance & Divorce Update September 2015 – Family Law Week

‘Edward Heaton, Principal Associate and Jane Booth, Associate, both of Mills & Reeve LLP analyse the news and case law relating to financial remedies and divorce during August 2015.’

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Family Law Week, 13th September 2014

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Asset acquisitions revisited – Competition Bulletin from Blackstone Chambers

Posted September 2nd, 2015 in appeals, bankruptcy, mergers, news, transfer of undertakings by sally

‘Earlier this year, I suggested that the law on when an asset acquisition might amount to a merger was somewhat opaque. The Court of Appeal’s decision in Eurotunnel II [2015] EWCA Civ 487 has brought some additional clarity, although the messy procedural history of that case has caused its own problems.’

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Competition Bulletin from Blackstone Chambers, 1st September 2015

Source: www.competitionbulletin.com

High Court: up to directors to prove they took ‘every step’ to minimise potential loss to creditors – OUT-LAW.com

Posted August 10th, 2015 in bankruptcy, company directors, fraud, insolvency, interpretation, liquidators, news by sally

‘It is up to the directors of an insolvent company to prove that they took “every step” to minimise the potential loss to creditors as soon as they knew that the company could not reasonably avoid liquidation, the High Court has confirmed.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 7th August 2015

Source: www.out-law.com

Solicitor ducks regulatory burden by becoming McKenzie Friend – Legal Futures

Posted August 6th, 2015 in bankruptcy, legal representation, McKenzie friends, news, solicitors by sally

A solicitor who became a professional McKenzie Friend after 20 years in practise, has hit out at the burden imposed on high street practitioners, which he said cost him almost £2m and pushed him into personal bankruptcy.
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Legal Futures, 6th August 2015

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Horton v Henry; pensions, bankruptcy and divorce – Family Law Week

‘Pranjal Shrotri, barrister, 36 Bedford Row identifies the importance of the forthcoming judgment of the Court of Appeal in Horton v Henry.’

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Family Law Week, 22nd June 2015

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Bankruptcy trustee barred from charging costs to client account – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted June 5th, 2015 in bankruptcy, client accounts, costs, news, trustees in bankruptcy by tracey

‘A trustee looking after the affairs of a bankrupt law firm has been refused permission to claim costs from the client accounts of the practice.’

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Law Society’s Gazette, 5th June 2015

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Howell v Lerwick Commercial Mortgage Corporation Ltd – WLR Daily

Posted May 7th, 2015 in bankruptcy, debts, insolvency, law reports, regulations, setting aside by sally

Howell v Lerwick Commercial Mortgage Corporation Ltd [2015] EWHC 1177 (Ch); [2015] WLR (D) 200

‘Where the debt in a statutory demand itself was not disputed but the debtor relied on a cross-claim which did not equal the debt but fell short of it by less than £750, the statutory demand was not necessarily to be set aside under the residual discretion in rule 6.5(4)(d) of the Insolvency Rules 1986.’

WLR Daily, 1st May 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Trust deeds versus trustees – 11 Stone Buildings

Posted April 20th, 2015 in bankruptcy, debts, EC law, news, pensions, trustees in bankruptcy by sally

‘Thomas Robinson details changes in bankruptcy and pension rights under UK and EU pension schemes.’

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11 Stone Buildings, 15th April 2015

Source: www.11sb.com

Clarke and another v Cognita Schools Ltd (trading as Hydesville Tower School) – WLR Daily

Clarke and another v Cognita Schools Ltd (trading as Hydesville Tower School) [2015] EWHC 932 (Ch); [2015] WLR (D) 164

‘CPR r 3.3(5) did not apply to orders made under rule 6.5(1) of the Insolvency Rules 1986. Therefore an order under rule 6.5(1) did not have to state that the debtor could apply to have it set aside, varied or stayed.’

WLR Daily, 1st April 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Deutsche Bank AG London Branch v Petromena ASA (in bankruptcy) – WLR Daily

Deutsche Bank AG London Branch v Petromena ASA (in bankruptcy) [2015] EWCA Civ 226; [2015] WLR (D) 133

‘Where a party, which entered an acknowledgment of service to proceedings and made an unsuccessful challenge against the jurisdiction of the English court to hear the proceedings, had entered a further acknowledgment of service in its application for permission to appeal against the court’s decision to refuse its challenge, that party would have submitted to the jurisdiction of the English court, within article 24 of the Lugano Convention on Jurisdiction and the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (2007), because of the provisions of CPR r 11(8), unless it had first applied to the court for an extension of time to file the further acknowledgment of service sufficient to enable the application for permission to appeal, or the appeal if permission was granted, to be determined.’

WLR Daily, 18th March 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Income payment orders and pensions revisited: The decision in Horton v Henry – 11 Stone Buildings

Posted March 17th, 2015 in bankruptcy, insolvency, news, pensions by sally

‘The recent High Court decision in Horton v Henry has now thrown the debate over the extent to which the pension pot of a bankrupt can be made available to his creditors wide open.’

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11 Stone Buildings, January 2015

Source: www.11sb.com

JSC Bank of Moscow v Kekhman and others – WLR Daily

Posted February 26th, 2015 in banking, bankruptcy, domicile, insolvency, law reports by sally

JSC Bank of Moscow v Kekhman and others [2015] EWHC 396 (Ch); [2015] WLR (D) 82

‘When considering whether to exercise its discretion to make a bankruptcy order on a debtor’s petition, the court was to have regard to whether the petitioner could show (1) that he had a sufficiently close connection with England and Wales; (2) that there was a reasonable possibility of benefit resulting from the making of a bankruptcy order; and (3) that one or more persons interested in the distribution of assets were persons over whom the English court could exercise jurisdiction.’

WLR Daily, 20th February 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

When a duty of care does arise in tort – suing Companies House – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted February 9th, 2015 in bankruptcy, company law, compensation, duty of care, mistake, news, winding up by sally

‘Cases about whether someone owes a duty of care in tort can be surprisingly difficult to decide. Kate Beattie has just posted on the Michael case here, where no duty was held to arise, despite (it appears) the police control room being told by the doomed Ms Michael that her ex-boyfriend had just told her that he was just about to “fucking kill you”. He was as good as his word, within 20 minutes, and the family now sues the police. How much more direct can you be than that? And yet the family lost 5-2 in the Supreme Court.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 8th February 2015

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

High Court judge disagrees on whether creditors can access bankrupt’s pension savings where pension not in payment – OUT-LAW.com

Posted January 9th, 2015 in bankruptcy, debts, news, pensions, trustees in bankruptcy by sally

‘Trustees in bankruptcy should not be able to access a bankrupt pension scheme member’s savings for the purposes of paying off debts, a High Court judge has ruled, contradicting a 2012 decision of the same court.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 8th January 2015

Source: www.out-law.com

Horton v Henry – WLR Daily

Posted January 6th, 2015 in bankruptcy, insolvency, law reports, pensions, trustees in bankruptcy by sally

Horton v Henry [2014] EWHC 4209 (Ch); [2014] WLR (D) 551

‘There was no power vested in the court pursuant to section 310 of the Insolvency Act 1986 to make an income payments order in respect of an uncrystallised pension not yet in payment.’

WLR Daily, 17th December 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Hayes v Butters and another – WLR Daily

Posted December 18th, 2014 in bankruptcy, damages, harassment, law reports, trustees in bankruptcy by sally

Hayes v Butters and another [2014] WLR (D) 536

‘In a claim for harassment pursuant to the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, where the claimant claimed personal loss and financial loss, the claim was a hybrid claim which vested in the trustee in bankruptcy.’

WLR Daily, 10th December 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Hayes v Hayes – WLR Daily

Posted June 20th, 2014 in appeals, bankruptcy, civil procedure rules, cross-examination, law reports by tracey

Hayes v Hayes: [2014] WLR (D) 267

‘Cross-examination was not appropriate on the hearing of a bankruptcy petition. The appeal court should be slow to depart from the regular practice of registrars, which was to decide such hearings without cross-examination. The insolvency court was not a suitable forum for the trying of disputes.’

WLR Daily, 12th June 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

The implications for bankrupts of the recent Budget announcement on pensions: have we gone full circle? – 11 Stone Buildings

Posted June 5th, 2014 in bankruptcy, budgets, news, pensions by sally

‘There has long been a tension between two competing public interests: encouraging individuals to save and provide for their financial security in old age on the one hand and providing recourse for creditors in the event of debtors being unable to pay their debts on the other. Historically, the legislative trend has generally been in favour of the creditor. The Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 (“WRPA 99”), which came into force on 29 May 2000, appeared to provide fundamental changes to the relationship between these two competing policies. In 2012, however, when these reforms came before the court in Raithatha v Williamson the result indicated that WRPA 99 may have been far less significant than was previously supposed. If Williamson was correctly decided, then the changes to pension law introduced in the March 2014 Budget will have effectively unravelled those reforms altogether. Alaric Watson explains.’

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11 Stone Buildings, May 2014

Source: www.11sb.com