The debtor claimed that he could not be served with an insolvency petition, being resident in Spain.
Held: The court was to look to where was the centre of his main interests to determine whether to open insolvency proceedings. On that basis, the appeal by the trustee was allowed and the bankruptcy order was restored. The court should have regard not only to what the debtor was doing, but also to what he would be perceived to be doing by an objective observer, and where such an observer would think his centre of interests lay.
By reference to article 2(h) and the commentary of the Virgos-Schmit report, that the carrying on of the activity of letting and managing a multi-let unit at a business park was an ‘establishment’ for the purposes of the Regulation.
Judges:
Chadwick LJ, Longmore LJ, Sir Martin Nourse
Citations:
[2005] EWCA Civ 974, Times 26-Sep-2005, [2005] 1 WLR 3966
Links:
Statutes:
Council Regulation (EC) (No 1346/2000) 3.1 3.2
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Skjevesland v Geveran Trading Company Limited ChD 2002
The registrar had decided that the debtor’s centre of main interests was situated in Switzerland.
Held: Article 3 of Regulation (EC) 1346/2000 did not displace the bankruptcy jurisdiction which (as the registrar found) the High Court would . .
Cited – In re Daisytek-ISA Ltd and others 2004
The court was asked where the centre of main interests of French and German subsidiaries of ISA International plc was situated for the purposes of article 3.1 of the Regulation.
Held: After referring to recital (13) to the Regulation, to the . .
Cited – In re Ci4net.com Inc and another ChD 20-May-2005
It was necessary to decide whether two companies, Ci4net.com Inc and DBP Holdings Limited, had centres of main interests in London.
Held: The court addressed the issue of timing: ‘There were differences between counsel as to the approach which . .
Cited by:
Cited – Olympic Airlines Sa Pension and Life Insurance Scheme v Olympic Airlines Sa CA 6-Jun-2013
The court considered the the jurisdiction under EU law to commence a secondary winding-up in England of a company whose main liquidation is taking place in Greece. That depended upon whether the company, registered in Greece had a sufficient . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Insolvency, European
Updated: 01 July 2022; Ref: scu.229030
