Re Holidair Ltd: 1994

(Supreme Court of Ireland) The court considered whether a debenture created a floating charge over its book debts: ‘I am satisfied, accordingly, that the correct construction of the clause is that the trustee had a discretion to determine into what company account with what bank the proceeds of book debts should be paid from time to time. But there is no restriction in the clause on the companies drawing the monies out of these accounts. Accordingly, there is nothing in it to prevent the companies from using the proceeds of the book debts in the normal way for the purpose of carrying on their business. By reason of this the charge has also the third characteristic referred to by Romer LJ in his judgment in the case of In re Yorkshire Woolcombers’ Association Ltd and is accordingly a floating charge and not a fixed charge.’

Judges:

Blaney J

Citations:

[1994] 1 ILRM 481

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedNational Westminster Bank plc v Spectrum Plus Limited and others HL 30-Jun-2005
Former HL decision in Siebe Gorman overruled
The company had become insolvent. The bank had a debenture and claimed that its charge over the book debts had become a fixed charge. The preferential creditors said that the charge was a floating charge and that they took priority.
Held: The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Ireland

Updated: 06 August 2022; Ref: scu.228302