End Of Court Year Case Digest: Irish Insolvency & Restructuring Judgments

Published date23 September 2022
Subject MatterCorporate/Commercial Law, Insolvency/Bankruptcy/Re-structuring, Corporate and Company Law, Insolvency/Bankruptcy
Law FirmWalkers
AuthorMr William Greensmyth, David Braithwaite and Keith Hyland

As another Irish Court year will soon commence, now is an opportune time to look back at some of the more interesting insolvency and restructuring judgments to have been delivered in the Superior Courts during the last 12 months.

The judgments explored below will prove of relevance and importance to practitioners and clients navigating distressed corporates and assets over the coming weeks and years. Please do get in touch with your Walkers Ireland Insolvency and Dispute Resolution contact or any of the contacts listed below with any comments or queries.

1. Winding up petition - grounds for defence - Section 569 Companies Act 2014

The company asserted that a demanded amount used to ground a winding up petition was not intended as a loan to the company but instead as a personal liability accepted by the petitioner.

Butler J was satisfied that the petitioner's evidence indicated that the alleged debt constituted a loan by the petitioner to the company. The loan documentation exhibited showed that the loan was not made to the petitioner in a personal capacity but was a business loan to the company for the purposes of completing a development on company property.

Butler J did not consider the defences advanced by the company to be in good faith. The company did not dispute the debt until after the petition for winding up was presented; this was despite the fact that the petition was preceded by repeated correspondence. The company's filed accounts also expressly referenced that the debt was outstanding in favour of the petitioner.

In re Kilcurrane Business Centre Ltd, Judgment delivered on 10 November 2021 by Ms Justice Butler (Judgment here).

2. Application for restoration of dissolved company - Section 738 of the Companies Act 2014

This case concerned an application to have a dissolved company restored to the register of companies so that a receiver could be appointed to enforce security over a company property.

A former director of the company provided evidence to the court that the secured property was previously sold with the consent of the original loan provider.

During the court application, it was noted that the transfer of the secured property had through inadvertence not concluded but, despite this, the unconnected purchaser had entered into possession of the property.

The court therefore had to consider whether it would be just and equitable for the company to be restored to the register, allowing a receiver to be appointed and seek to enforce the...

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