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Winding-up and Restructuring Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. W-11)

Act current to 2024-03-06 and last amended on 2023-06-22. Previous Versions

PART IGeneral (continued)

Contestation of Claims

Marginal note:Claims or dividend may be objected to

 Any liquidator, creditor, contributory, shareholder or member of a company or, in the case of an authorized foreign bank, the liquidator, the authorized foreign bank or any creditor, may object to any claim filed with the liquidator or to any dividend declared.

  • R.S., 1985, c. W-11, s. 87
  • 1999, c. 28, s. 87

Marginal note:Objections in writing

  •  (1) Where a claim or dividend is objected to under section 87, the objections shall be filed in writing with the liquidator, together with the evidence of the previous service of a copy thereof on the claimant.

  • Marginal note:Answers and replies

    (2) The claimant shall have six days to answer the objections, or such further time as the court allows, and the contestant shall have three days to reply, or such further time as the court allows.

  • R.S., c. W-10, s. 88

Marginal note:Day to be fixed for hearing

 On the completion of the issues on the objections filed under section 88, the liquidator shall transmit to the court all necessary papers relating to the contestation, and the court shall, on the application of either party, fix a day for taking evidence on the contestation and hearing and determining the contestation.

  • R.S., c. W-10, s. 89

Marginal note:Costs

 The court may make such order as seems proper in respect of the payment of the costs of the contestation referred to in section 89 by either party or out of the estate of the company.

  • R.S., c. W-10, s. 90

Marginal note:Default in answer by claimant

 Where, after a claim or dividend has been duly objected to, the claimant does not answer the objections, the court may, on the application of the contestant, make an order barring the claim or correcting the dividend, or may make such other order with reference thereto as appears right.

  • R.S., c. W-10, s. 91

Marginal note:Security for costs

 The court may order the person objecting to a claim or dividend to give security for the costs of the contestation within a limited time, and may, in default, dismiss the contestation or stay proceedings thereon on such terms as the court thinks just.

  • R.S., c. W-10, s. 92

Distribution of Assets

Marginal note:Distribution of property

 The property of the company shall be applied in satisfaction of its debts and liabilities, and the charges, costs and expenses incurred in winding-up its affairs.

  • R.S., c. W-10, s. 93

Marginal note:Winding-up expenses

 All costs, charges and expenses properly incurred in the winding-up of a company, including the remuneration of the liquidator, are payable out of the assets of the company, in priority to all other claims.

  • R.S., c. W-10, s. 94

Marginal note:Distribution of surplus

  •  (1) The court shall distribute among the persons entitled thereto any surplus that remains after the satisfaction of the debts and liabilities of the company and the winding-up charges, costs and expenses, and unless otherwise provided by law or by the Act, charter or instrument of incorporation of the company, any property or assets remaining after the satisfaction shall be distributed among the members or shareholders according to their rights and interests in the company.

  • Marginal note:Interest from commencement of winding-up

    (2) Any surplus referred to in subsection (1) shall first be applied in payment of interest from the commencement of the winding-up at the rate of five per cent per annum on all claims proved in the winding-up and according to their priority.

  • R.S., 1985, c. W-11, s. 95
  • 1996, c. 6, s. 155

Fraudulent Preferences

Marginal note:Gratuitous contracts

 All gratuitous contracts, or conveyances or contracts without consideration or with a merely nominal consideration, respecting either real or personal property, made by a company in respect of which a winding-up order under this Act is afterwards made, with or to any person whatever, whether a creditor of the company or not, within three months immediately preceding the commencement of the winding-up, or at any time afterwards, shall be presumed to have been made with intent to defraud the creditors of the company.

  • R.S., c. W-10, s. 96

Marginal note:Contracts injuring or obstructing creditors

 All contracts by which creditors are injured, obstructed or delayed, made by a company unable to meet its engagements, and in respect of which a winding-up order under this Act is afterwards made, with a person whether a creditor of the company or not, who knows of that inability or has probable cause for believing that inability exists, or after that inability has become public and notorious, shall be presumed to be made with intent to defraud the creditors of the company.

  • R.S., c. W-10, s. 97

Marginal note:When contracts with consideration voidable

 A contract or conveyance for consideration, respecting either real or personal property, by which creditors are injured or obstructed, made by a company unable to meet its engagements with a person ignorant of that inability, whether a creditor of the company or not, and before that inability has become public and notorious, but within thirty days next before the commencement of the winding-up of the business of the company under this Act, or at any time afterwards, is voidable, and may be set aside by any court of competent jurisdiction, on such terms with respect to the protection of that person from actual loss or liability by reason of that contract as the court orders.

  • R.S., c. W-10, s. 98

Marginal note:Contracts made with intent to defraud or delay creditors

 All contracts or conveyances made and acts done by a company respecting either real or personal property, with intent fraudulently to impede, obstruct or delay the creditors of the company in their remedies against the company, or with intent to defraud the creditors of the company or any of them, and so made, done and intended with the knowledge of the person contracting or acting with the company, whether a creditor of the company or not, and that have the effect of impeding, obstructing or delaying the creditors in their remedies, or of injuring them, or any of them, are void.

  • R.S., c. W-10, s. 99

Marginal note:Sale or transfer in contemplation of insolvency

  •  (1) Where any sale, deposit, pledge or transfer is made of any property, real or personal, by a company in contemplation of insolvency under this Act by way of security for payment to any creditor, or where any property, real or personal, goods, effects or valuable security are given by way of payment by the company to any creditor, whereby that creditor obtains or will obtain an unjust preference over the other creditors, the sale, deposit, pledge, transfer or payment is void, and the subject thereof may be recovered back by the liquidator by suit or action in any court of competent jurisdiction.

  • Marginal note:Presumption if within thirty days

    (2) Where the sale, deposit, pledge or transfer under subsection (1) is made within thirty days next before the commencement of the winding-up of the company under this Act, or at any time afterwards, it shall be presumed to have been so made in contemplation of insolvency, whether or not it was made voluntarily or under pressure and evidence of pressure shall not be admissible to support the transaction.

  • Marginal note:Exception

    (3) The presumption referred to in subsection (2) does not apply to a sale, deposit, pledge or transfer of financial collateral made in accord- ance with the provisions of an eligible financial contract.

  • R.S., 1985, c. W-11, s. 100
  • 1996, c. 6, s. 156
  • 2007, c. 29, s. 114

Marginal note:Payments by company within thirty days

  •  (1) Every payment made within thirty days next before the commencement of the winding-up under this Act by a company unable to meet its engagements in full, to a person who knows of that inability or has probable cause for believing that inability exists, is void, and the amount paid may be recovered back by the liquidator by suit or action in any court of competent jurisdiction.

  • Marginal note:Restoration of security

    (2) Where any valuable security is given in consideration of a payment described in subsection (1), the security or the value thereof shall be restored to the creditor on the return of the payment.

  • Marginal note:Exception

    (3) Subsection (1) does not apply to a payment made in connection with financial collateral in accordance with the provisions of an eligible financial contract.

  • R.S., 1985, c. W-11, s. 101
  • 2007, c. 29, s. 115

Marginal note:Definitions

 In subsections 100(3) and 101(3), eligible financial contract and financial collateral have the same meanings as in subsection 22.1(2).

  • 2007, c. 29, s. 116

Marginal note:Debts of company transferred to contributories

 When a debt due or owing by a company has been transferred within the time and under the circumstances mentioned in section 101, or at any time afterwards, to a contributory, or to any person indebted or liable in any way to the company, who knows or has probable cause for believing the company is unable to meet its engagements, or in contemplation of its insolvency under this Act, for the purpose of enabling that contributory or person to set up, by way of compensation or set-off, the debt so transferred, the debt shall not be set up by way of compensation or set-off against the claim on that contributory or person.

  • R.S., c. W-10, s. 102

Marginal note:Inquiry into dividends and redemptions of shares

  •  (1) If a company that is being wound up under this Act has, within 12 months preceding the commencement of the winding-up, paid a dividend in respect of any share of the company, other than a stock dividend, — or, in the case of a federal credit union, paid a dividend in respect of a share or membership share, other than a share or membership share dividend — or redeemed or purchased for cancellation any of the shares of the capital stock of the company — or any of the shares or the membership shares of the company, if it is a federal credit union — the court may, on the application of the liquidator, inquire into whether the dividend was paid or the shares or membership shares redeemed or purchased for cancellation at a time when the company was insolvent, or whether the payment of the dividend or the redemption or purchase for cancellation of its shares or membership shares rendered the company insolvent.

  • Marginal note:Judgment against directors

    (2) The court may give judgment to the liquidator against the directors of the company, jointly and severally, in the amount of the dividend or redemption or purchase price, with interest thereon, as has not been paid to the company where the court finds that

    • (a) the transaction occurred at a time when the company was insolvent or the transaction rendered the company insolvent; and

    • (b) the directors did not have reasonable grounds to believe that the transaction was occurring at a time when the company was solvent or the transaction would not render the company insolvent.

  • Marginal note:Criteria

    (3) In making a determination under paragraph (2)(b), the court shall consider whether the directors acted as prudent and diligent persons would have acted in the same circumstances and whether the directors in good faith relied on

    • (a) financial or other statements of the company represented to them by officers of the company or the auditor of the company, as the case may be, or by written reports of the auditor to fairly reflect the financial condition of the company; or

    • (b) a report relating to the company’s affairs prepared pursuant to a contract with the company by a lawyer, notary, an accountant, engineer or appraiser or other person whose profession gave credibility to the statements made in the report.

  • Marginal note:Judgment against shareholders

    (4) If a transaction referred to in subsection (1) has occurred and the court makes a finding referred to in paragraph (2)(a), the court may give judgment to the liquidator against a shareholder, or a member of a federal credit union, who is related to one or more directors or to the company or who is a director not liable by reason of paragraph (2)(b) or subsection (5), in the amount of the dividend or redemption or purchase price referred to in subsection (1) and the interest on it, as was received by the shareholder or member and not repaid to the company.

  • Marginal note:Directors exonerated by law

    (5) A judgment under subsection (2) may not be entered against or be binding on a director who had, in accordance with any applicable law governing the operation of the company, protested against the payment of the dividend or the redemption or purchase for cancellation of the shares of the capital stock of the company or of the shares or membership shares of the federal credit union and had exonerated himself or herself under that law from any liability for it.

  • Marginal note:Directors’ right to recover

    (6) Nothing in this section is to be construed to affect any right, under any applicable law governing the operation of the company, of the directors to recover from a shareholder, or from a member of a federal credit union, the whole or any part of any dividend, or any redemption or purchase price, made or paid to the shareholder or member when the company was insolvent or that rendered the company insolvent.

  • Marginal note:Onus

    (7) For the purposes of an inquiry under this section, the onus of proving

    • (a) that the company was not insolvent lies on the directors and the shareholders of the company or, if the company is a federal credit union, on the directors, members and shareholders of the company; and

    • (b) that there were reasonable grounds to believe any of the following lies on the directors:

      • (i) that the company was not insolvent when a dividend was paid or shares, or membership shares of a federal credit union, were redeemed or purchased for cancellation, or

      • (ii) that the payment of a dividend or a redemption of shares, or membership shares of a federal credit union, did not render the company insolvent.

  • Marginal note:Meaning of dividend

    (8) In this section, dividend includes a patronage allocation within the meaning of section 2 of the Bank Act.

  • 1996, c. 6, s. 157
  • 2010, c. 12, s. 2133

Appeals

Marginal note:Appeals

 Any person dissatisfied with an order or decision of the court or a single judge in any proceeding under this Act may,

  • (a) if the question to be raised on the appeal involves future rights,

  • (b) if the order or decision is likely to affect other cases of a similar nature in the winding-up proceedings, or

  • (c) if the amount involved in the appeal exceeds five hundred dollars,

by leave of a judge of the court, or by leave of the court or a judge of the court to which the appeal lies, appeal therefrom.

  • R.S., c. W-10, s. 103
  • R.S., c. 44(1st Supp.), s. 10
  • 1976-77, c. 28, s. 49(F)

Marginal note:Court of Appeal

 An appeal under section 103 lies to the highest court of final resort in or for the province or territory in which the proceeding originated.

  • R.S., c. W-10, s. 104

Marginal note:Practice

 All appeals shall be regulated, as far as possible, according to the practice in other cases of the court appealed to, but no appeal hereinbefore authorized shall be entertained unless the appellant has, within fourteen days from the rendering of the order or decision appealed from, or within such further time as the court or judge appealed from allows, taken proceedings therein to perfect his appeal, or unless, within that time, he has made a deposit or given sufficient security according to the practice of the court appealed to that he will duly prosecute the appeal and pay such damages and costs as may be awarded to the respondent.

  • R.S., c. W-10, s. 106
  • R.S., c. 44(1st Supp.), s. 10
 

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