The petitioner’s winding-up petition had been dismissed on the defendant company being put into administration. The petitioner asked for its costs to be paid as an administration expense payable in priority to the administrator’s expenses.
Held: Rule 2.12 must be read purposively. The order could be made, though not with the priority requested. Briggs J said: ‘an administration on the application of the company may be the last stage in a long process whereby the company comes to be subjected to an insolvency process in the interests of its creditors, the earlier stages of which may include the bringing of a winding-up petition, and the prosecution of that petition in the face of dogged resistance by the company itself. In my judgment one of the purposes for which Rule 2.12(1)(e) permits a person who has presented a winding-up petition to appear at the hearing of an administration application is to enable that person to seek an order for the costs of that petition, which will ordinarily be dismissed at the hearing of the administration application, if an administration order is made.’
Briggs J
[2010] EWHC 180 (Ch), Times 28-Apr-2010, [2010] Bus LR 854
Bailii
Insolvency Rules 1986 (SI 1986 No 1925) 2.12(3), Insolvency Act 1986
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Re Gosscott (Groundworks) Ltd 1988
The court had jurisdiction under section 51 to order that the costs of administration proceedings overtaken by a compulsory liquidation could be ordered to be treated as costs in the winding-up. . .
Cited – Kahn and Another v Commissioners of Inland Revenue; In re Toshoku Finance plc HL 20-Feb-2002
A company went into liquidation, being owed substantial sums by another company in the same group, but itself insolvent. A settlement did not include accrued interest, but was claimed to be taxed as if it had, and on an accruals basis. If so, was . .
Cited – Unadkat and Co (Accountants) Ltd v Bhardwaj and Another ChD 11-Oct-2006
Section 651 was broad enough to enable the court to order that the costs of having the dissolution of a company declared void be treated as an expense in the winding-up, notwithstanding the decision of the House of Lords in Re Toshoku Finance UK plc . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Insolvency, Costs
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.396747