INSOLVENCY, SURETY AND INSURANCE

Where the payee is one place removed from the contracting party or is representing an insolvent party, pursuing the recovery of monies claimed to be due invariably meets with creative and intransigent resistance. Challenges to facts, defences and counterclaims hitherto unrehearsed have to be dealt with dealt efficiently. Our specialist consultants and construction professionals, well versed in construction contract expertise, dispute resolution and the law, are accustomed to addressing these challenges head on.

BESPOKE SPECIALISM AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

The construction and engineering industries generate a significant number of claims and not just between the parties to a construction contract.  Understanding and properly quantifying insolvency, surety and insurance claims relating to a construction project requires similar skill sets and expertise to those exercised in contractual dispute resolution; but their particular and technical nature, complexity and usual high value demands experience and a bespoke specialism of their own.

The modern tendency to procure construction and engineering projects on a design and construct basis, coupled with the proliferation of the professional liability claim, means that this specialism is in constant demand.  Understanding bespoke forms of contract or appointment to unravel respective liabilities and investigating the effect of collateral warranties, novation agreements, retention bonds, parent company guarantees and performance bonds requires an experienced eye.

Insolvency realisation, seeking to recover monies claimed to be due to an insolvent firm invariably meets with creative and intransigent resistance

The issue in insolvency realisation had been that if the payer would not capitulate and abandon its incorrect position, what could be done to force them?  The change in the law following the Supreme Court case of Bresco Electrical Services Ltd (In Liquidation) v Michael J Lonsdale (Electrical) Ltd [2020] UKSC 25  now gives the potential for insolvent companies to pursue adjudication as part of the insolvency realisation strategy as a means of resolving and settling such disputes.  We are accustomed to challenging and dismissing spurious set-offs and counter claims for both solvent and insolvent parties. Having been at the forefront of construction adjudication from the outset of its statutory basis, the Supreme Court’s decision has given the green light for us to apply that accumulated experience in insolvency realisation matters.

Our consultants specialising in professional indemnity and contractor all risks claims, surety and bonds, notional and balancing accounts and insolvency realisation will ensure optimum and efficient recovery.  Contact us to discuss your individual and unique requirements, with all lines of enquiry treated in the strictest confidence and without obligation.

Insolvency recovery, seeking to recover monies claimed to be due to an insolvent firm invariably meets with creative and intransigent resistance