WHEN A PARTY IS BANKRUPT: WEBINAR ON THE 16th SEPTEMBER 2024: AN IMPORTANT TOPIC THAT MAY HELP FLOAT YOUR BOAT
In The Mayor And Burgesses of the London Borough of Richmond v Trotman [2024] EWHC 2145 (KB) Mr Justice Kerr was critical of the claimant’s failure to consider the consequences of the defendant being bankrupt. Insolvency issues in litigation are a common problem and the issues that arise are considered in a webinar Insolvency and the Personal Injury Lawyer on the 16th September 2024.
THE CASE
The claimant local authority brought committal proceedings against the defendant relating to the manner in which he had positioned a boat on the river Thames. Those proceedings were unsuccessful.
THE DEFENDANT’S BANKRUPTCY
The judge considered earlier costs orders made against the defendant. These were made at the time that the defendant was bankrupt. He was critical of the failure to bring the judge’s attention to s.285 of the Insolvency Act 1986.
- On 9 January 2024 HHJ Blair KC handed down his reserved judgment; see Richmond LBC v. Trotman (No. 2) [2024] EWHC 9 (KB) (as I shall call it). He set out the procedural history, criticising the interim order of Lambert J as “verbose, poorly expressed and ungrammatical in a number of its paragraphs”. He was aware that Mr Trotman had been made bankrupt on 16 June 2023, but his attention was not drawn to section 285(2) of the 1986 empowering the court to stay the proceedings or allow them to continue on terms; nor to section 285(3) preventing enforcement of any debt provable in the bankruptcy (which would, as far as I am aware, include a quantified costs order)
Later in the judgment
- “Finally, I would have taken into account that the costs order of £27,500 made against Mr Trotman while he was bankrupt far exceeds any fine that would have been appropriate had I found Mr Trotman in contempt here. Richmond’s omission to draw the judge’s attention to section 285 of the Insolvency Act 1986 on that occasion may have contributed to the judge’s decision to make that costs order.”
The case illustrates the importance of all parties to litigation keeping in mind insolvency issues.
THE WEBINAR ON THE 16th SEPTEMBER
Issues relating to individual insolvency, a claimant’s bankruptcy or the defendant’s financial position can loom large in some cases. From a claimant’s solicitor finding out, half way through a case, that their client is bankrupt, to the issues of proceeding against a bankrupt or insolvent defendant. Booking details are available here.
The webinar takes you through the law relating to insolvency, the major pitfalls that can occur and how to avoid them including:
- Warning the client and protecting yourself
- What is the position when the claimant is bankrupt? Who “owns” the damages and who can bring the action?
- Avoiding striking out
- Practical steps that can be taken when the claimant is bankrupt
- What is the position when a carer is bankrupt?
- The steps you need to take when proceeding against a bankrupt defendant
- The steps you need to take when proceeding against an insolvent company
- Bypassing the problem – when can you sue an insurer directly?