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Area of Law: Insolvency
By a judgment handed down on 19 February 2025, the UK Supreme Court dismissed the appeal in the Invest Bank v El-Husseini litigation concerning the scope of section 423 of the Insolvency Act 1986.
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Judgment has been handed down in Re London Resort Co Holdings Ltd [2024] EWHC 3287 (Ch), an interesting High Court case concerning irremediable breaches of the terms of a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) by an insolvent company and the refusal by the CVA supervisor to terminate the CVA in response to such breaches. ICC Judge Barber’s judgment provides helpful guidance about CVAs and the duties of CVA supervisors. The case is a rare example of a successful challenge to a decision/omission of a CVA supervisor under section 7(3) of the Insolvency Act 1986.
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Section 221(1) of the Insolvency Act 1986 provides that “any unregistered company may be wound up under this Act”. By section 220, ““unregistered company” includes any association and any company, with the exception of a company registered under the Companies Act 2006 in any part of the United Kingdom.” Does the use of the word “includes” mean that entities other than associations and companies can be wound up under section 221(1)?
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The Court of Appeal handed down judgment on Wednesday, 19th April 2023, in Hunt v Ubhi [2023] EWCA Civ 417 in which it reiterated that the default rule is that applicants for freezing orders, including office holders, must provide unlimited cross undertakings in damages and that a departure from the default rule must be justified.
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On 11 November 2022 Mr Justice Zacaroli handed down judgment (available here) in respect of applications for directions by the office-holders of 10 failed energy suppliers.
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Lance Ashworth KC and Wilson Leung, instructed by Stephenson Harwood LLP, acted for the successful respondent in Dusoruth v Orca Finance UK Ltd (in liquidation) [2022] EWHC 2346 (Ch).
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The High Court has found that myriad claims against the former directors of BHS fall to be struck out in the context of the high-value, complex litigation being brought by the joint liquidators of the BHS companies against the former directors of those companies.
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People facing bankruptcy, and their advisers, will gain more clarity on the long-term legal risks involved thanks to an appeal judgment handed down this morning. In Kennedy v The Official Receiver [2022] EWHC 1973 (Ch), Mr Nicholas Thompsell (sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge) clarified the Court’s approach to determining the length of a Bankruptcy Restrictions Order (“BRO”) under S 281A and Schedule 4A of the Insolvency Act 1986.
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John Machell QC acts for the appellants in ITG Limited v Glennalla Properties Limited in an appeal to the Privy Council. The case concerns issues relating to the insolvency of trusts including the priority between the indemnity claims of successive trustees, and between trustees and outside creditors.
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In Trafalgar v Hadley & Ors Justin Higgo QC and Jamie Randall continue to represent the liquidator of Trafalgar in multi-party proceedings in the Chancery Division to recover funds misappropriated from a Cayman Islands segregated portfolio by its fiduciaries.
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Gareth Tilley acted as junior counsel for the Official Receiver in Re Keeping Kids Company; Official Receiver v Atkinson, the disqualification proceedings arising from the collapse of the charity Kids Company. These are believed to be the first-ever proceedings for disqualification of charity trustees as company directors and they raise questions about the standard to be applied to unpaid trustee directors, whether a remunerated charity CEO can or ought to be classified as a de facto company director, and what degree of latitude the trustee directors have in relation to the pursuit of charitable objects when the company is of doubtful solvency.
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In Nimat Halal Food Ltd v Patel [2020] EWHC 734 (Ch), Zoe O’Sullivan QC appeared for the creditor in an insolvency case in which Chief ICC Judge Briggs gave guidance on the personal liability of an administrator to pay costs following a creditor’s successful appeal against the
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James Mather acted for the Joint Administrators of an insolvent FCA-regulated international payment services provider in Re Supercapital Ltd [2020] EWHC 1865 (Ch). This involved the first application to seek a court’s approval for a distribution plan under the Payment Services Regulations 2017, on the basis of statutory trust principles applied in the context of other financial services regulations.
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Lance Ashworth QC and Matthew Morrison secured judgment secured judgment for the First Defendant , Mr Rosser in Instant Access Properties v Rosser successfully defeating a fraudulent trading and breach of fiduciary duty claim of £35 million.
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