A curation of recent Canadian insolvency-focused articles.
Patrice Benoit and Geneviève Cloutier of Gowling WLG share that the Court of Appeal of Quebec has overturned the decision of the lower court in the highly anticipated Bluberi case and note that the case will now serve as an example to debtors, litigation funders and creditors that when the only ”raison d’être” of the debtor is the pursuit of litigation, or when such litigation is at the core of any arrangement, pursuit of that litigation requires the approval of creditors.
Monica Carinci, Steven Graff, Kyle Plunkett and Miranda Spence of Aird & Berlis explain recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal that definitively answers the question of which appeal procedure must be followed in appeals of Orders made in proceedings constituted under both the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Courts of Justice Act
Matthew Lerner and Scott Rollwagen of Lenczner Slaght weigh in on the recent Court of Appeal decision in The Guarantee Company of North of America v Royal Bank of Canada, noting that the decision has upset the long-standing conventional wisdom among bankruptcy and insolvency practitioners in Ontario about the fate of provincially-created statutory trusts in bankruptcy.
Romain Viel of McInnes Cooper explains that the Supreme Court's hesitation to comment on the scope of a Crown's deemed trust before a tax debtor's bankruptcy in the Callidus case is likely because there is ongoing litigation about this issue (Canada v. Toronto-Dominion Bank)
Kelsey Meyer of Bennett Jones summarizes several recent decisions relating to municipal property taxes that are currently under appeal in Alberta and notes that the outcome of these appeals will have significant implications for willing and unwilling participants.
Steve Weisz, Caitlin Fell and Alex Don of Brauti Thorning Zibarras explain what is at issue in the highly anticipated Third Eye Capital appeal, noting that the decision will significantly impact all parties to restructuring proceedings, including purchasers of distressed assets going forward.
Ken Lenz, Kevin Zych and Isabel Langlois of Bennett Jones review a recently sanctioned CCAA plan of compromise and arrangement that demonstrates how CCAA proceedings can be used to settle complex litigation that involves multiple parties and jurisdictions.
Michael McTaggart, Josh Beaver and Matt Snow of PwC look back at how the corporate bond market grew following the 2008 financial recession and point out that nearly half of investment grade bonds are now perilously close to being downgraded to junk bond status, which would trigger a host of difficulties for these issuers.
Mario Forte of GSNH looks at how landlords have come to act as the "official opposition" in complex retail insolvencies and reviews several recent cases that demonstrate the creative and facilitative roles that landlords can take in CCAA restructurings.
Michael Myers of Papazian Heisey Myers examines the meaning of the word ‘may’ as it is used in section 96 of the BIA, and the extent of the discretion that is afforded to a judge as a consequence.
