Docken & Company
900, 800-6th Ave. SW
Calgary, Alberta
Canada, T2P 3G3
v: (403) 269-3612
f: (403) 269-8246
e: e-mail us
Copyright 1998-2005
Docken & Company. All Rights Reserved.
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Insolvency & Bankruptcy Law
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Bankruptcy is an interesting process in that it can release someone from their debts to innocent parties. Given the uniqueness of this, there are 4 types of debts that will not be released:
- fines or penalties imposed by the Government;
- spousal or child support;
- intentional assaults, frauds or dishonest acts; and
- debts that would threaten the integrity of the bankruptcy process if they were released.
Bankruptcy, however, is not always the solution, particularly for corporations. For example, to protect the shareholders, an insolvent corporation may be bought. However, the corporation purchasing will not want to assume all of the debt - corporations can be generous but they are not stupid. In which case they will try and force the creditors to take less money than they are owed. Creditors are often interested in this because it may be better than the alternative of the company going bankrupt and they don't get any money - something's better than nothing.
Consequently creditor arrangements were invented, and legislation was even passed to help this process - Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (the CCAA). A court can now order creditors to go along with arrangements.
There are other scenarios as well. The creditors may simply take over the insolvent corporation. They can ask the court to appoint a Receiver with creditor representatives advising the Receiver. There are a multitude of possibilities once the Receiver steps in.
It's in these latter situations that Docken & Company gets involved. We can represent the Receiver, or creditors, or a company working through CCAA. This is the situation in the Stock Fraud cases we have been involved with. It requires a thorough understanding of Securities laws, and shareholder and creditor rights - which can vary from Province to Province, and certainly from Country to Country. For that reason we have developed working relationships with counsel in other Countries.
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