Bankruptcy court considers scope of its discretion to adjourn the hearing of creditors' petition where a conjunction is alleged (High Court) | Practical Law

Bankruptcy court considers scope of its discretion to adjourn the hearing of creditors' petition where a conjunction is alleged (High Court) | Practical Law

In Aabar Block SARL and another v Maud [2016] EWHC 1016 (Ch), the High Court considered the scope of its discretion to adjourn the hearing of a bankruptcy petition where the debtor claimed a conjunction existed: that the petitioners had an ulterior object in seeking a bankruptcy order, which was not in the interests of his creditors as a whole to make immediately.

Bankruptcy court considers scope of its discretion to adjourn the hearing of creditors' petition where a conjunction is alleged (High Court)

by Practical Law Restructuring & Insolvency
Published on 02 Jun 2016 • England, Wales
In Aabar Block SARL and another v Maud [2016] EWHC 1016 (Ch), the High Court considered the scope of its discretion to adjourn the hearing of a bankruptcy petition where the debtor claimed a conjunction existed: that the petitioners had an ulterior object in seeking a bankruptcy order, which was not in the interests of his creditors as a whole to make immediately.
On 2 June 2016, the court ordered a stay of the bankruptcy order that had been made pending an appeal. It held that a short stay would not cause any prejudice to the petitioning creditors and the debtor was likely to suffer irreparable harm if the bankruptcy order was made. A summary of the judgment is available on Lawtel.
The debtor's appeal was successful and the High Court set out how discretion should be exercised. For more information, see Legal update, Correct approach for exercising discretion on bankruptcy petition presented with ulterior object and opposed by creditors (High Court).