Two former BHS directors ordered to pay at least £18m over wrongful trading – The Guardian

Posted June 12th, 2024 in company directors, insolvency, liquidators, misfeasance, news, pensions by sally

‘Two former directors of the collapsed department store chain BHS have been ordered to pay at least £18m after the pair were found liable for wrongful trading and breaching their corporate duties.’

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The Guardian, 11th June 2024

Source: www.theguardian.com

No cause of action at common law for wrongful eviction – Nearly Legal

Posted October 17th, 2022 in company law, housing, insolvency, landlord & tenant, liquidators, news, repossession by sally

“The Brake v Axnoller litigation reaches the Court of Appeal again, this time on the unlawful eviction claim concerning the cottage, which the Brakes had lost at first instance. In what is the stamp of this sprawling array of litigation, there are some deeply recherché issues of law. In a development that is less common, the Brakes partly won – though what the significance of this is remains deeply unclear.”

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Nearly Legal, 16th October 2022

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

Case Preview: Stanford International Bank Ltd (In Liquidation) v HSBC Bank Plc – UKSC Blog

Posted April 27th, 2022 in appeals, banking, damages, debts, insolvency, liquidators, news, Supreme Court by sally

‘On 19 January 2022, the Supreme Court heard the appeal in Stanford International Bank Ltd (In Liquidation) v HSBC Bank Plc. The appeal turns on whether a company in liquidation can be considered to have suffered loss where, while it is still trading, its bank pays money out of the company’s accounts to discharge debts owed by the company. It is likely that this case will further set out the limits of the Quincecare duty, following a spate of recent high-profile cases in this area.’

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UKSC Blog, 26th April 2022

Source: ukscblog.com

High Court dismisses allegations over administrators’ conduct – OUT-LAW.com

Posted April 16th, 2021 in administrators, chambers articles, insolvency, liquidators, news by tracey

‘The High Court of England and Wales has dismissed a claim brought by the liquidators of One Blackfriars Limited against its former joint administrators over the sale of the company’s main asset, a development site in Blackfriars, London.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 15th April 2021

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

QC’s opinion “crudely altered” to mislead third party, court finds – Legal Futures

‘A QC’s opinion was dishonestly altered to reassure a third party charged with marketing an investment scheme that eventually collapsed, the High Court has found.’

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Legal Futures, 7th April 2021

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Time isn’t on your side and resolving old disputes is never easy – Practical Law: Construction Blog

‘Time flies when you are having fun, or so the saying goes. I think it flies whether you are having fun or not, although I’m sure we’ve all experienced those moments when it isn’t flying at all and it feels like it has stood still. As Pink Floyd famously sang, “Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day”. You may wonder why I am talking about time. Well, it’s because of the events leading up to Fraser J’s judgment in John Doyle Contractors Ltd v Erith Contractors Ltd. They are all to do with time.’

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Practical Law: Construction Blog, 29th September 2020

Source: constructionblog.practicallaw.com

Commercial Court dislikes pre-action disclosure in prof neg claims: even in mega-auditor’s negligence action – Hailsham Chambers

‘In Carillion v KPMG, the liquidators of this once substantial company sought pre-action disclosure from its former auditors. They intend to bring professional negligence proceedings for not detecting that the financial statements were unreliable. The Commercial Court refused the application. One might think that given auditors’ negligence claims in large part turn on professional judgment as to the audit procedures performed, the evidence obtained and the conclusions drawn, clear sight of the materials produced and relied on by the auditors would enable better focussed pleadings. Nonetheless the Commercial Court refused the application (which had admittedly spun into a substantial hearing with apparently more than £500,000 costs on each side). It pointed out that generally such applications were unlikely to succeed in Commercial Court cases and on the facts was not appropriate. The Judge seems to have been most impressed by the fact that Carillion had been able to articulate a detailed case in negligence already, rendering pre-action disclosure perhaps redundant and likely to be duplicated when it came to conventional disclosure.’

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Hailsham Chambers, June 2020

Source: www.hailshamchambers.com

High Court rejects attempt to adjourn £250m trial because of virus – Litigation Futures

‘The High Court has rejected an application to adjourn a five-week trial of a £250m insolvency claim because of the coronavirus pandemic.’

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Litigation Futures, 9th April 2020

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

In the matter of Comet Group Limited (in Liquidation) [2018] EWHC 1378 (Ch) – Wilberforce Chambers

Posted February 11th, 2020 in administrators, disciplinary procedures, liquidators, news by sally

‘This judgment is an important one. It concerned an application by the joint liquidators of Comet (formerly joint administrators) for directions permitting them not to carry out any further investigation into the validity of the fixed and floating charge held by a single purpose vehicle (“HAL”) that had been granted by Comet under a year before it collapsed into administration. The joint liquidators also sought a direction that they be permitted to transfer a further tranche of funds to HAL that had been realised in the administration.’

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Wilberforce Chambers, 5th February 2020

Source: www.wilberforce.co.uk

Liquidator’s firm liable for opponent’s costs after funding litigation – OUT-LAW.com

Posted January 13th, 2020 in company directors, costs, insolvency, limitations, liquidators, news, third parties by tracey

‘The High Court has characterised a liquidator’s firm as a real party to the litigation which it funded as it stood to make financial gain from the action and was therefore found not to be a pure funder facilitating access to justice.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 10th January 2020

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

Adjudication and insolvency – guidance from the Court of Appeal – Practical Law: Construction Blog

‘Summer 2018 will be remembered as a special time by many readers of this blog: whether it was the spectacular weather, the giddy heights hit by the England football team, or Fraser J’s decision in Michael J Lonsdale (Electrical) Ltd v Bresco Electrical Services Ltd (In Liquidation), it was a summer to remember.’

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Practical Law: Construction Blog, 6th February 2019

Source: constructionblog.practicallaw.com

Court uses correspondence to clarify settlement wording – OUT-LAW.com

Posted June 6th, 2018 in drafting, insolvency, liquidators, news by tracey

‘Companies and lawyers must be clear and unambiguous when drafting settlement agreements, a court ruling has reminded them. A liquidator had to drop some claims after a court used correspondence to clarify exactly what was meant by the phrase “whole of the claim” in a compromise agreement. The ruling does not affect the liquidator’s claim against another person because she was not mentioned in the correspondence.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 5th June 2018

Source: www.out-law.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

Resolving the rules of insolvency – 11 Stone Buildings

Posted July 28th, 2015 in appeals, consent, costs, cross-claims, insolvency, liquidators, news, winding up by sally

‘Restructuring & Insolvency analysis: In what ways has Re Kingstons Investments Ltd shed light on longstanding ambiguities in the Insolvency Rules 1986? Jamie Riley, commercial litigator at 11 Stone Buildings, explores the case and explains why the final decision will be so important for insolvency lawyers.’

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11 Stone Buildings, June 2015

Source: www.11sb.com

Important judgment on liquidators’ ability to obtain documents – RPC Commercial Disputes Blog

Posted March 13th, 2015 in disclosure, documents, Hong Kong, liquidators, news, winding up by sally

‘In an important judgment handed down recently by the Court of First Instance in Hong Kong, the companies judge has ruled on the ambit of the power to order a person to produce documents to a provisional liquidator pursuant to section 221(3) of the Companies (Winding-Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance.(1) For now and pending any appeal, the judgment confirms that the scope of documents “relating to the company” that have to be produced to a liquidator (pursuant to section 221(3) of the Ordinance) is narrower than the matters in respect of which a person can be examined on oath concerning the “affairs of the company” (sections 221(1) and (2)). In so doing, the judgment gives a more literal interpretation of the power to order production pursuant to section 221(3) without reference to section 221(1).’

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RPC Commercial Disputes Blog,

Source: www.rpc.co.uk

Abbey Forwarding Ltd (in liquidation) v Revenue and Customs Commissioners – WLR Daily

Posted February 11th, 2015 in damages, injunctions, law reports, liquidators, winding up by sally

Abbey Forwarding Ltd (in liquidation) v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2015] EWHC 225 (Ch); [2015] WLR (D) 53

‘The undertaking in damages given on the appointment of a provisional liquidator did not automatically terminate on the making of a winding up order so as to deprive the court of jurisdiction to enforce the undertaking by ordering an inquiry as to damages.’

WLR Daily, 6th February 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Modified Universalism – Privy to Singular Clarification – RPC Commercial Disputes Blog

Posted January 27th, 2015 in Hong Kong, insolvency, liquidators, news, privacy, winding up by sally

‘While most jurisdictions provide liquidators with wide investigative powers to locate and realise assets locally, the exercise of such powers becomes more complicated when the assets are situated overseas. As more and more businesses expand globally and corporate structures become equally more complex, the liquidators’ task becomes more problematic in winding up such companies.’

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RPC Commercial Disputes Blog,

Source: www.rpc.co.uk

Krys and another v Stichting Shell Pensioenfonds – WLR Daily

Posted December 8th, 2014 in foreign jurisdictions, injunctions, insolvency, law reports, liquidators by sally

Krys and another v Stichting Shell Pensioenfonds [2014] UKPC 41; [2014] WLR (D) 516

‘There is no principle in insolvency proceedings which prevents an anti-suit injunction being made against a foreign creditor so as to restrain him from resorting to the courts of his own country. A creditor may not seek or enforce an order from a foreign court which will result in his enjoying prior access to any part of the insolvent estate.’

WLR Daily, 26th November 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Supreme Court overturns liquidator’s challenge to pre-liquidation security granted over golf club – OUT-LAW.com

Posted July 9th, 2014 in appeals, hotels, liquidators, news, Scotland, Supreme Court by sally

‘A recent decision by the UK’s highest court reinforces how important it is for litigants to succeed in the court of first instance as chances of success on appeal are getting slimmer an expert has said.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 8th July 2014

Source: www.out-law.com

Henderson (Respondent) v Foxworth Investments Limited and another (Appellants) – Supreme Court

Posted July 3rd, 2014 in appeals, hotels, insolvency, law reports, liquidators, Scotland, Supreme Court by sally

Henderson (Respondent) v Foxworth Investments Limited and another (Appellants) [2014] UKSC 41 (YouTube)

Supreme Court, 2nd July 2014

Source: www.youtube.com/user/UKSupremeCourt