Manolete Partners Plc V Hayward And Barrett Holdings Ltd & Ors

• Published date: 08 June 2021
• Law Firm: Moon Beever
• Author: Frances Coulson, Graham McPhie and James Latham

Manolete Partners Plc v Hayward And Barrett Holdings Ltd & Ors[2021] EWHC 1481 (Ch) represents something of a procedural set back for insolvency litigation.

The applicant, as assignee of various claims arising out of the liquidation of Blackwater Plant Ltd, issued an application using form IAA as provided for by r. 1.35 Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016. The application included claims under various provisions of the Insolvency Act 1986 and claims for relief for misfeasance. The third and fourth respondents took the point that a claim in misfeasance made by anyone other than an office-holder under s. 212 IA 1986 had to be brought by claim form. They sought an unless order requiring the applicant to pay the additional issue fee that would have been payable had the claim been commenced under CPR Part 7.

Chief ICC Judge Briggs agreed. He held:

"49. As joint...