Recently, a young lawyer asked me for advice on how to generally switch practice areas to move into litigation. From my brief advice, I thought it would be useful to set out and expand on my tips. I write this especially from the lens of a commercial litigator.
These tips are shaped by my personal experience. Please feel free to suggest more tips in the comments section and where we can learn from other lawyers’ experiences.
The High Court in Coca Cola Refreshments Malaysia Sdn Bhd v Leejin Capital Sdn Bhd [2021] MLJU 1700 (grounds of judgment date 6 August 2021) invalidated the appointment of the liquidator in a creditors’ voluntary winding up. The Court ordered that instead, another liquidator candidate be appointed, where that candidate was nominated by a creditor holding a majority in value of the debt of the company.
This decision may cause uncertainty for future creditors’ voluntary winding up as well as other forms of winding up.
The High Court in the judicial management application of Re Scomi Group Bhd decided that public listed companies cannot apply for judicial management. Hence, Scomi Group Bhd’s judicial management application was dismissed.
I have updated this article with the full grounds of judgment dated 4 October 2021.
The High Court in Safari Alliance Sdn Bhd v Tan Lee Chin and others (grounds of judgment dated 25 August 2021) dealt with how a shareholder cannot maintain an oppression action against rulings made by the Chairperson at a general meeting. Such rulings do not amount to “affairs of the company” for oppression.
The High Court in the Eka Noodles Berhad v Norhayati binti Tukiman (grounds of judgment dated 21 August 2021) decided that a single member of the company can put in the request for the directors to hold a company general meeting.
Wong Chee Chien writes a case update on when an admiralty claim trumps insolvency.
More often than not, a creditor with an admiralty claim would take steps to arrest a ship or vessel of the debtor, for the purposes of selling it so that the proceeds of sale will be held as pre-judgment security for the creditor.
However, if the debtor subsequently goes into liquidation, what happens to the proceeds of sale from the arrested vessel? Should the proceeds be paid to the creditor, or should they be distributed to all unsecured creditors pari passu? These issues were dealt with by the High Court in Dan Bunkering (Singapore) Pte Ltd v The Owners of the Ship or Vessel “PDZ Mewah” & Anor (see grounds of judgment dated 9 August 2021).
Although this decision deals with several issues, this case update focuses on the question of whether the creditor’s admiralty claim trumps the insolvency regime of pari passu distribution among unsecured creditors. Continue reading
