English

Since the end of January 2018 the Law Library of the Leiden Law School holds one of the largest collections on insolvency (bankruptcy) law in Europe. A large portion of it contains the private library that I have been building up in over thirty years, since the early 1980s till 2016. From 2007 to 2014 I was a professor of… Read More »2018-01-12 Bob Wessels Insolvency Law Collection

The ‘rule in Gibbs’ is not well known on the European continent. In the English insolvency world, however, it’s a rule that can not be overlooked, and receives severe criticism. It goes back to over a century, but recently has kept laywyers in several parts of the world busy. The rule of Gibbs refers to the case of Gibbs &… Read More »2018-01-doc10 The rule in Gibbs

The NIKI Luftfahrt insolvency drama was close to a legal controversy, which would have had vast proportions, with a clash between two legal systems, from Germany and Austria, see blog/2018-01-doc7-comi-of-niki-luftfahrt-act-3. Reuters reports, however, that both appointed IPs (in the German insolvency proceedings Lucas Flöther, in the Austrian proceedings Ulla Reisch) have settled the legal dispute: ‘Airline Niki’s German and Austrian… Read More »2018-01-doc9 NIKI Luftfahrt Act 4

After completion of submissions on the fourth day of the second court hearing, on 14 July 2017, the Australian Supreme Court New South Wales (In the matter of Boart Longyear Limited (No 2) [2017] NSWSC 1105) adjourned the hearing for 14 days to allow the opportunity for satisfaction of an important condition precedent relating to a party involved, which was… Read More »2018-01-doc8 Mediation in corporate restructuring proceedings?

The NIKI Luftfahrt saga unfolds itself rapidly. The Landesgericht of Korneuburg (in Austria) has announced on 12 January 2018 that it has opened main insolvency proceedings (‘Hauptverfahren’) for Austria’s incorporated NIKI Luftfahrt GmbH. The decision is the third episode in this airline insolvency drama in Germany/Austria, after the 8 January 2018 decision of the Landgericht Berlin. In this decision a… Read More »2018-01-doc7 COMI of NIKI Luftfahrt Act 3

On 8 January 2018 the Landgericht Berlin has, on the basis of an immediate appeal against the order of the provisional insolvency administration on the assets of NIKI Luftfahrt GmbH (under Austrian law, the debtor) overruled the decision of the District Court of Charlottenburg of 13 December 2017, confirmed by that court on 4 January 2018 (see blog/nikis-comi, with the… Read More »2018-01-doc3 NIKI’s COMI continued

From newspapers we know that NIKI Luftfahrt is in financial trouble. Attempts from third parties to buy all or a significant amount of assets are ongoing. These include takeoff- and landing slots in places such as Vienna, Munich, Palma de Mallorca and Zurich. There also is (evidently) a legal battle. Where is NIKI located? Or better: which is the cente… Read More »2018-01-doc 2 NIKI’s COMI

In England, being a liquidator or an administrator, you are an ‘officer of the court’. This generally means that a court has inherent jurisdiction to control the conduct of its ‘own’ officer if euther the procedure is being conducted by the court or the governing legislation so provides. A liquidator in a voluntary winding up, however, is not such an… Read More »2017-12-doc3 Officer of the court