In their article for The International Insolvency & Restructuring Report 2023/2024 entitled ‘The light at the end of the tunnel and the last throw of the die: liquidators’ claims against former directors following Sequana’, Daniel Lightman KC and Charlotte Beynon have analysed the Supreme Court’s decision in BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana SA & Ors [2022] 3 WLR 709.

In Sequana, the Supreme Court considered whether, and if so in what circumstances, directors owe a duty to consider the interests of a company’s creditors in addition to or in place of their statutory duty to consider the interests of its members.

In order to decide the issues arising in relation to this “creditor duty”, the Supreme Court found it necessary to set them in the context of similar (or potentially competing) remedies and doctrines in company and insolvency law more broadly.

As a result, Sequana provides valuable guidance in a developing area of the law – namely, how directors should conduct themselves when the company they serve strays towards insolvency if they wish subsequently to avoid liability.

Daniel’s and Charlotte’s article, which can be accessed here, considers the effect of the decision and reasoning in Sequana on claims which liquidators may bring against former directors for wrongful and “misfeasant” trading under the Insolvency Act 1986.

With Tim Benham-Mirando, Daniel Lightman KC and Charlotte Beynon represent Mr Chandler, a former director of the BHS group of companies, in the ongoing BHS litigation. The trial of the claims brought by BHS’ liquidators for alleged wrongful trading and misfeasance is due to start in November 2023 and is one of The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases of 2023.