Speechly Bircham | Inform: Insolvency
December 2008



Inform: Insolvency
Speechly Bircham

Welcome to December's issue of Inform: Insolvency, a periodical newsletter produced by Speechly Bircham's Insolvency team, highlighting legal developments affecting insolvency practitioners.


That we are now in a formal recession is unarguable: the great unknown is how long and how deep it will be. The first quarter of 2009 may well dictate what follows. Distress is already being felt in much of the retail sector, with High Street names such as Woolworths and MFI likely to disappear. The ripples of a poor Christmas could spread far and wide.


This edition if Inform: insolvency addresses recent decisions affecting employees' claims and gives some guidance on how contingent liabilities should be treated for the purposes of balance sheet insolvency.


We also take this opportunity to introduce Amy Gallimore and Nicola O'Donoghue to the team. Amy joined us in May 2008 from a Leeds based niche insolvency and corporate finance firm JB Law Solicitors. Nicola joined Speechly Bircham's corporate department from Slaughter & May in October 2007 and has joined the insolvency team on secondment from October 2008.

 

If you have any questions arising from any of the articles contained in this edition or any insolvency matters generally, please contact:


Christopher Harlowe, Head of Insolvency & Corporate Recovery
Simon Ridpath, Solicitor, Insolvency
Amy Gallimore, Solicitor, Insolvency
Nicola O'Donoghue, Solicitor, Insolvency




Top Stories

Contingent liabilities in corporate insolvency
Two recent court decisions have dealt with the issue of contingent liabilities in relation to corporate insolvency both with relevance to Section 123 of the Insolvency Act 1986. The issue relates to whether or not these debts ought to be considered on the balance sheet and be considered in real terms as a test of a company's solvency and also, with a wider review, in relation to directors' conduct and in particular recovery actions against directors under Sections 212, 213, 214, 238, 239 and 423 of the Insolvency Act 1986. Read more...

 

Employees' protective award made after the company goes into liquidation, are provable debts
Sir Donald Rattee caused some consternation amongst insolvency practitioners by his High Court decision late last year that a protective award made after the date of liquidation in favour of employees based on of the employer's failure to consult on redundancies as required by Section 189 Trade Union and Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 was not provable in the liquidation. Read more...

 

Legislative changes
Following previous editions of inform insolvency, we dealt with the decisions in Trident and Leyland Daf.  Both of these have recently been subject to legislative amendments and it is worth updating you here. Read more...

 

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This information is correct to the best of our knowledge and belief at the time of going to press. It is, however, written as a general guide, so we recommend that specific professional advice is sought before any action is taken.

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