United Kingdom: Arbitration & Dispute Resolution

A recent English High Court judgment examines how courts manage parallel restructuring litigation when a New York law indenture intersects with an English law intercreditor agreement.

The Court of Appeal has partially reversed a High Court decision in a case examining whether a chargee's appointment of administrators was invalid due to improper purpose, specifically where debt acquisition followed a failed takeover bid. The judgment clarifies the boundaries of Braganza-style rationality duties in secured lending enforcement and explores when the equitable 'proper purpose' doctrine may constrain a creditor's right to appoint administrators under Schedule B1 of the Insolvency Act 1986.

For a long time, divorce tended to follow a fairly predictable pattern, and not always a comfortable one. Even where a couple wanted to keep things amicable, the legal process could pull them in a more adversarial direction. Each person would instruct their own solicitor, communication would pass back and forth, and positions could harden without anyone setting out for that to happen.