Ian Rees Phillips secures injunction restraining advertisement of winding up petition on the basis of prospective COVID-19 legislation

June 30, 2020

Ian Rees Phillips has secured an injunction restraining the advertisement of a winding up petition on the basis of novel prospective legislation relating to COVID-19 and the impact of coronavirus

Ian  successfully appeared in the High Court Companies and Insolvency Court to represent a company seeking an injunction to restrain its creditors from advertising a winding up petition on the basis that to do so would contravene future prospective legislation. The Corporate Insolvency & Governance Bill 2019-21, which has since received Royal Assent on 25 June, is designed in part to protect companies from being involuntarily wound up by their creditors for a limited period where the cause of an insolvency is the impact of coronavirus.

When the Act was still prospective legislation, Ian persuaded the High Court to grant an injunction to restrain the petitioning creditor from pursuing the petition by advertisement, and other creditors from presenting their own petition, until the Act’s protection lapses. This is because, unusually, the Act has retrospective effect and the prospective enactment of it would catch the circumstances of the applicant for the injunction, even though it was being considered whilst the law was still passing through Parliament.

The full judgment of ICC Judge Barber is available here

Any clients or prospective clients who wish to instruct Ian in relation to insolvency matters, especially where the potential insolvency is linked to COVID-19, can happily contact Ian’s clerk Ryan Barrow at ryan.barrow@6pumpcourt.co.uk or via telephone to Chambers’ main line.