‘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 June 2016.’
Family Law Week, 15th July 2016
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘This project is complete. We laid our report before Parliament on 13 July 2016 and await the Government’s response.
This project, which was commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), considered whether greater protection is needed for consumers who lose deposits or gift vouchers when retailers or other service providers become insolvent.’
Law Commission, 14th July 2016
‘Caroline Wood considers the recent Court of Appeal decision concerning the liability of the MIB where an insurer has become insolvent.’
Park Square Barristers, 3rd June 2016
Source: www.parksquarebarristers.co.uk
‘Cold call kings behind millions of nuisance calls are getting away with it because the Government has refused to hold them personally liable, the departing Information Commissioner has told The Telegraph. Christopher Graham, in his final interview before stepping down, said he had repeatedly pressed ministers to give him the power to pursue the directors of cold-calling companies – but his pleas had been ignored.’
Daily Telegraph, 18th June 2016
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Hosking and another v Slaughter and May [2016] EWCA Civ 474
‘During a company’s administration the administrators employed a firm of solicitors and agreed their fees. The company was wound up and the liquidators were subsequently appointed. Shortly thereafter the administrators approved the solicitors’ final invoice which post-dated the liquidators’ appointment. The liquidators applied to the court for an order for a detailed assessment of the costs agreed between the administrators and the solicitors, pursuant to rule 7.34 of the Insolvency Rules 1986. The registrar concluded that the administrators could agree and pay the fees of the solicitors and there was neither power under rule 7.34 nor inherent jurisdiction for the court to order a detailed assessment of costs. The judge dismissed the liquidators’ appeal against the registrar’s order refusing a detailed assessment of costs but allowed the appeal in respect of the final invoice, concluding that rule 7.34 did not apply to former administrators so the final invoice had not been properly approved and would have to be approved by the liquidators. The liquidators appealed against the judge’s decision not to order a detailed assessment and the solicitors appealed against the order that the final invoice had not been properly approved.’
WLR Daily, 24th May 2016
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘Most insolvency practitioners and lawyers believe the end of the exemption for insolvency litigation from the abolition of recoverable success fees and insurance premiums in conditional fee cases will lead to “unscrupulous or illegal behaviour” by company directors, a survey has found.’
Litigation Futures, 3rd June 2016
Source: www.litigationfutures.co.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has refused a request by the liquidators of a company for a detailed assessment of costs agreed by the firm’s administrators.’
Litigation Futures, 25th May 2016
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘The supply of “bunkers” of marine fuel on credit for immediate use was not governed by the 1979 Sale of Goods Act, leaving the shipping company in debt to the bank which has taken over the liabilities of the insolvent bunker supplier, the UK’s highest court has confirmed.’
OUT-LAW.com, 12th May 2016
Source: www.out-law.com
‘An insolvent firm of solicitors could validly assign conditional fee agreements (CFAs) to another law firm, a circuit judge has ruled in a much-anticipated case that is expected to end up in the Court of Appeal.’
Litigation Futures, 12th May 2016
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘The chancellor has been warned that gaps in existing pension laws “could put the retirement savings of many thousands of people at risk”.’
BBC News, 7th May 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘In a recent decision the Companies Court has held that trustees in bankruptcy do not need to satisfy the actual registration requirements set out in s.124(2)(b) of the Insolvency Act 1986 (“IA”) before presenting a just and equitable winding-up petition. For the first time, the decision in Stratford Edward Hamilton & James Ashley Dowers (Trustees in Bankruptcy of Charles Newell Brown) v Maureen Frances Brown & C&MB Holdings Ltd [2016] EWHC 191 (Ch)puts bankruptcy trustees in the same position as they are in with respect to unfair prejudice petitions and means that they do not have to wait a minimum of six months following their appointment to have the necessary locus to present a just and equitable winding up petition.’
New Square Chambers, 11th April 2016
Source: www.newsquarechambers.co.uk
‘Anti-avoidance provisions in the 1995 Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act prevent a tenant from assigning a lease to its guarantor, the High Court has ruled.’
OUT-LAW.com, 21st March 2016
Source: www.out-law.com
‘Reforming higher education in England is both long overdue, and vitally needed to protect the sector’s hard-won reputation.’
OUT-LAW.com, 15th January 2016
Source: www.out-law.com
‘Applications for wrongful trading under s 214 of the Insolvency Act 1986 are notoriously difficult. In Brooks v Armstrong [2015] EWHC 2289 (Ch), Registrar Jones ordered the former directors of Robin Hood Centre plc (the “Directors”) (the “Company”) to make a contribution to the Company’s assets under s 214. But the relatively small award serves as a cautionary reminder of the risks of s 214 applications for liquidators and directors alike.’
New Square Chambers, 1st December 2015
Source: www.newsquarechambers.co.uk
‘City Link did not breach laws requiring them to notify the government that they were “proposing to dismiss” thousands of employees who were made redundant when the business became insolvent last year, a court has ruled.’
OUT-LAW.com, 16th November 2015
Source: www.out-law.com
‘Abolishing the exemption from LASPO for insolvency cases would create a “windfall” for third-party funders, insolvency trade body R3 has argued.’
Litigation Futures, 29th October 2015
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘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”.’
Litigation Futures, 20th October 2015
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘Lord Justice Jackson has urged the government to ditch one of the final exemptions to his civil justice reforms.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 19th October 2015
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘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.’
OUT-LAW.com, 7th August 2015
Source: www.out-law.com
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