England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE
CIVIL DIVISION
ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT
CHANCERY DIVISION
(His Honour Judge McGonigal)

		The Royal Courts of Justice The Strand London Wednesday 19 September 2001

Wednesday 19 September 2001

1. LORD JUSTICE CHADWICK: This is an application for permission to appeal against an order for the winding-up of Computer Servicing South East Ltd made on 7 September 2001 by His Honour Judge McGonigal sitting in Leeds as a judge of the High Court.
2. The winding-up order was made on the petition of the Customs and Excise, who claim to be creditors in an amount which the company puts at £44848. The company has provided a list of creditors showing total indebtedness of £125,000-odd; of which some £44,000 is the subject of instalment agreements under which debts are being paid by agreed monthly amounts.
3. In the circumstances that the Customs and Excise wished to pursue their petition, it is difficult to see what course was open to the judge other than the making of a winding-up order. But, as it was put to him and is put to me, this company has an agreement with Madame Paola Monsoreau (who has taken the trouble to attend before me today) under which she is willing (for reasons which must be regarded as other than commercial) to invest £200,000 in subscription for shares. If that investment is made, then, on the figures as they appear today, the company will be solvent and all the creditors will be very much better off than if they are left to prove in an insolvent liquidation.
4. Mrs Monsoreau's ability to make that investment out of monies due to her from her father's estate, which is under administration in Boston, Massachusetts, is confirmed by a witness statement which she has signed and by a letter from an attorney in Jacksonville, Florida. I am prepared to accept that the money is available and will be invested in this company; but that, given the circumstances which have prevailed in the United States in recent days, it is not altogether surprising that formalities will not be completed for a few weeks.
5. In those circumstances, it seems to me that it is in the interests of all the creditors of this company that the company should have the opportunity to apply, under rule 7.47 of the Insolvency Rules, for rescission of the winding-up order made on 7 September 2001, if and when the investment can be made.
6. In those unusual circumstances, what I propose to do is to adjourn this application for permission to appeal for further hearing before me on Tuesday 16 October 2001; to extend time under Rule 7.47(4) for the application for the rescission of the winding-up order to be made until that date; and to accept the undertakings which have been given on behalf of the company to the Official Receiver and which, as I understand it, are acceptable to him; those undertakings to be recorded in a schedule to this order. I now pass them down to the Associate.
7. In the meantime, I will stay proceedings in the winding-up so that the company is not rendered a lifeless corpse by the time an application for rescission is made. It should be understood that, if the promised investment is not forthcoming, then the strong probability is that no order for rescission will be made by the High Court in Leeds; and that, when the matter comes back before me on 16 October, the application for permission to appeal against the order of 7 September is likely to be dismissed.
8. If an order for the rescission of the winding-up order is made before 16 October, then the need for a further hearing of this application for permission to appeal will fall away and the matter can be vacated without further attendance.